


SILENCE THE ECHO

by Garrus_Turian



Series: ECHO STORIES [1]
Category: Echo (Visual Novel 2019)
Genre: Character Study, Dark, Drama, Eventual Romance, Explicit Language, Fix-It of Sorts, Friendship, Furry, Gay, Gen, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Love/Hate, M/M, Monsters, Murder, Psychological Horror, Psychological Trauma, References to Drugs, Slow Burn, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:07:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 35,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27176311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garrus_Turian/pseuds/Garrus_Turian
Summary: The town of Echo... The cursed land, infected by something ancient long before humanity appeared. Chase Hunter, who left this place three years ago, came back again to finish his school project and reunite with his childhood friends, but soon the dark secrets of their childhood resurface, and unimaginable forces start to affect everyone who's still left in this decaying town.And now, after they survived the nightmare, Chase and his friends need to find the strength inside of them to keep moving forward.
Relationships: Chase Hunter/Flynn Moore
Series: ECHO STORIES [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068563
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	1. PROLOGUE

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally written in Russian (by me). For those interested, here's the link:  
> https://ficbook.net/readfic/9934005
> 
> This work is the retconning of Flynn's route's ending and continuation of the events past a certain point. For details, you should read the PROLOGUE where I explain all of it:) But be careful, I spoil about 90% of his route there:)
> 
> I would like to congratulate and thank my dear friend Laddie Luck, who has been proofreading my work. His help is incredible and his inputs made my translation a lot more bearable for you, dear English-speaking readers:) 
> 
> Anyway, welcome to Echo. But be careful, there might be no way out and even if you run... you'll always, always, always go back.

  
The original visual novel tells a story of a 21-year-old otter named Chase and a group of his friends. Chase, who is a journalism student at the Colorado State University in Pueblo, chooses the dark past of a small town where he grew up as the topic for his video project. Said dark past entails the murder of a worker in local mines and an outbreak of mass hysteria that plagued the whole population of the town shortly afterwards. 

Combining business with pleasure, Chase reconnects with his childhood friends (TJ, a very shy and religious male Canadian lynx, and Jenna, who escaped her troubled home and changed her birth name – Jasmynn), who also left the town of Echo after graduation. The group decided to meet again, in their birthplace, perhaps, for the last time in their lives. 

Leo – a red wolf of Hispanic origin, Chase’s ex-boyfriend; Flynn – a gila lizard, a clerk in Echo’s town hall, “renowned” for his constant arrogance and sharp tongue that delivers everything for everyone to hear with no filters of any kind, and Carl – a ram, living in a house of his rich parents and actively engaging into smoking pot and playing videogames for hours on end are the three friends who still stayed in Echo after their group “broke down”. 

In reality, it’d broken down a lot earlier, when most of the group were only 9-10 years old. On one fateful day they lost another friend of theirs, an otter named Sydney who’d drowned in the local lake Emma. The circumstances of his death remained unclear; TJ was the only eye-witness of the tragedy and even he didn’t know what had occurred. 

After the reunion in Echo, Chase and Leo have a conversation, where the otter finds out that the wolf is still hoping for reignition of their relationship, but the otter never gives him a straight answer. The group has a good time in a nearby bigger town of Payton and then heads over to the lake, hoping to find some sort of closure after all these years. However, all these plans go wrong when Flynn, who was Sydney’s best friend, lashes out at everyone and especially TJ, accusing him of hiding the truth about that day. 

Chase, hoping to calm down and bring to senses his aggressively disposed friend, heads after Flynn who separates himself from the others and walks home on foot. During the next few days, a spark strikes between them, and they even have sex a couple of times, while Leo is looking for him and almost stalks Flynn’s house, trying to find the otter. Chase also gets to know Flynn’s housemate (and “a complete nerd”, from his description) pretty close, a salamander named Daxton (Dax), but in a strictly non-romantic way. In bed, Flynn shares with Chase that before the week ends, the three will leave Echo again. Before then, he wants to interrogate TJ again about what happened at the Emma Lake 10 years ago. He also asks the otter to be there for TJ, because the lynx trusts him and wouldn’t be as afraid as he would be if Chase wasn’t there. The relationship of Flynn with the rest is very much strained because of the scandal at the lake in the beginning of the week. 

The next day Flynn decides to be completely transparent with Chase and shows him what he does in his free time, inviting him to a bar not far from Echo. It turns out he is a regular of not the bar itself, but “the smoke room” inside which in reality is just a gay sex den. Flynn embraces highly active and promiscuous lifestyle, and as he explains to Chase, it’s all he has since his friends have abandoned him. 

Chase, who was left extremely disappointed after last night in the den, doesn’t talk to Flynn the next day at all, and instead spends it with the rest of his friends having a makeshift picnic next to his old house. There, it turns out that Leo isn’t just hoping for the reignition of their relationship – for the last three years he’s been obsessed with it. Everything in his home is to remind him of Chase, the pillow he hugs in his sleep “is” Chase as well and he has conversations with his ex-boyfriend every day, as if he’s still there, because it’s easier for him to pretend than to accept that it is over. 

Dax, who is also present at the party, tells Chase that he has creepy dreams about “another”, weirder version of Chase and his friends and also that he has a feeling that something really bad is coming. 

When Flynn invites TJ to the town house to talk to him about Sydney’s death, Chase secretly sends messages to the rest, asking them to join them as well. They meet and the tensions run even higher than they were at the lake, when TJ suddenly tells everyone about the fragments of memories that still remain in his head about that day when he was an 8-year old kitten. All he remembers is two bodies with brown fur, one dragging the other with a grotesque figure of a monster standing in the lake and looking right at him. 

Because only seven of them were present at the lake that morning, the only person other than Sydney with brown fur was... Chase himself. Turns out, Sydney was trying to drown TJ as an escalation of his roughhousing and bullying of a little lynx that has been happening for half a year too much. Thinking only about protecting the little lynx and hating Sydney with every fiber of his being, Chase drowned “the bully”. 

He had no memories of this event because from that day and up to that moment in the town hall he has been partially possessed by an entity haunting the surrounding land. The very same entity that cause his never-ending nightmares, sleep paralysis and hallucinations all these years which got only worse the moment he returned to Echo. Under its influence, and also partially because of fear, Chase tries to twist the story, telling everyone that Flynn manipulated him into having sex with him with the sole purpose of getting close to TJ, who he allegedly has been harassing this whole week via text messages. 

Flynn, not knowing or believing in any kind of entity, hits Chase in the face and knocks him out. At that moment, the city starts to go mad, residents start screaming and shooting into the air. The group runs outside, with Flynn locking Chase in the reading room, unaware that it’s infested with black widows. 

The terrified friends drive to Flynn and Dax’s house where they hide from the chaos and discuss what has just happened. Turns out, Jenna and Carl also saw the monster TJ described – even Dax, albeit in his visions and dreams. 

Assuming that it may have something to do with what was happening in the town, they return to the town hall with Leo’s van to retrieve Chase and leave Echo. Upon their arrival they find out that the spiders attacked the otter with one of them biting him in the neck, which caused him a panic attack and a number of hallucinations and images from the past. Flynn, terrified by what he’s done, drags him out of the room and brings him to his senses. Chase’s condition leaves much to be desired, but the entity that inhabited his body all these years doesn’t seem to be there anymore as if gone with the reveal of the truth. 

Meanwhile, all remaining sane residents get together in front of the town hall, where the mayor (Flynn’s aunt) declares that similar things had already happened in the past of Echo and they have no other choice but to pray that they all survive this night, because no one is able to leave the town – something in the surrounding desert viciously kills everyone who tries. 

The elder weasel named Duke, whose father and grandfather went through similar circumstances in the past, tells the gathered folk that it always happened when someone’d committed a heinous crime and got away with it. He immediately points at Chase and assures everyone that he’d seen the otter behind his windows the week before he even arrived to Echo and thus he obviously has something to do with whatever is happening right now. The crowd quickly points out the connection between Sydney’s death and friends’ reunion and very little time passes before the people decide to lynch him in order to stop the nightmare – that's the way it was done in the past. Flynn disarms Duke threatening the group with a gun, and all seven friends (including Dax) leave the town with Leo’s van. 

Very quickly they realize that they cannot reach Payton, as if the desert is changing itself around them as they drive in circles on an abandoned road. Here the creature that they all saw in their dreams starts hunting them – they see it devouring the remains of Duke, who somehow ended up ahead of them on a now broken hot-wired truck that belonged to Chase. It attacks their van and they fall into the Emma Lake, despite it being too far from the road for it to be even physically possible. Everyone gets out of the car and onto the shore safely. 

Flynn’s story continues in a completely different way, but this story begins here. The possibilities of how things could happen are infinite, and this is just one of the options and then you’ll turn back, go back, back, _BACK,_

**_YOU’LL ALWAYS GO BACK_ **

**NO MATTER**

**HOW MUCH**

**YOU TRY**

**TO**

**RUN**


	2. TRAIN

It was extremely quiet around them. Except for the sounds of Leo’s heavy breathing, carrying the limp body of Chase on himself and the quick, but quiet steps of other, the nature itself seemed very much dead. They couldn’t see a thing other than the outline of the eroded road to Echo under their feet. 

The friends were trying to walk as closely to each other as possible. If the crash and fall into the lake hadn’t been able to push them closer, nothing else would’ve. Leo with the almost naked Chase hanging upon his arm and shoulder. Jenna and TJ were walking in the front, shivering from very unpleasant feeling of water on their fur. Flynn, Carl and Dax were walking a bit behind, as they got out of the lake later than everybody else. Leo didn’t wait for them and started moving as soon as he left the black as night water of Emma with Chase and no one could blame him – the otter felt worse and worse with every passing minute and no one could predict how it would end for him. They needed to find help immediately, but in this situation it was possible that help would never come – it's as if they were stuck in a cursed loop of motorways, inevitably returning to the town, over and over again. Other than that, there was an even more pressing concern – that creature that had attacked their van. It could be anywhere, but so far nothing was following or attacking them. No one was saying a word, but it was obvious that everyone was just silently hoping for the best – what the hell else were they supposed to do? 

It seemed like hours had passed in this eerie silence when then Leo suddenly gasped, looking forward. 

“My house!” 

Indeed, soon everyone, even those who didn’t have developed night vision recognized the street where Leo lived. The creepy sound barrier surrounding them seemingly broke open and they started hearing other sounds. Occasional gunshots, blood-freezing screams and something else. Something... alien. However, the noises closer to the people hurrying to the wolf’s house were much less threatening – only quiet chirr of crickets and muffled train horns somewhere in the distance. 

Upon reaching the front door, Leo reached into his pocket and let out a sigh of relief – after everything that’d happened the keys were still there. After a couple of clumsy attempts to open the lock while trying to balance Chase on his shoulder, the door finally swung open. 

“Inside, quick!” he slurred back over his shoulder. 

He hurried into his bedroom, laid Chase onto his bed and headed to the kitchen, almost pushing over anyone on his way. He started pulling out ice cubes from the freezer and piling them into a folded kitchen towel. When the size of the makeshift ice bag satisfied him, he hurried back to the bed and barked another order into the living room which was eerily quiet. 

“Someone, check on the trailer nearby. Kudzu will be safer with us, if he’s still there.” 

“Kudzu? The raccoon?” asked Flynn. 

“Do you know many other folks, let alone raccoons named Kudzu?” responded Leo with a cold voice. 

“Maybe ten, fuck if I know,” snapped back annoyed lizard, “Dax, you coming?” 

The salamander blinked and gave him a brief nod. They went out, leaving the door slightly ajar. 

Carl who had no energy left in his body loudly dropped to the floor and stretched his hooves forward. Jenna and TJ sat in the kitchen; the fox started stroking the back of her trembling friend whose ears fell completely flat onto the back of his head. 

Leo was applying the ice bag to the bite mark on the otter’s neck, muttering something in Spanish under his breath. 

“Chula, how are you feeling?” anxiously asked the wolf. 

“Still alive,” quietly responded Chase. 

Complete weakness spilled all over his body, and it seemed like another retch was coming pretty soon, but for now he was laying still and allowed his ex-boyfriend to “save his life”. 

The front door opened again and inside came Flynn and Dax, who were followed by a gloomy-looking raccoon in a black tank top and white pants. Kudzu greeted everyone who was looking at him with a nod and stood in the corner of the kitchen, almost trying to be as unapproachable as possible. 

Complete silence ensued for the next few minutes, and surprisingly, Carl was the one to break it. Loudly exhaling, he looked around and said: 

“Well... what are we gonna do? Anyone have an idea?” 

TJ responded to him wish his high shaking voice. 

“Maybe, we should just wait? It seems like it’s safe in here, and morning should come soon... Perhaps it’ll be over then?” 

“ _If_ the morning comes, you mean,” said Flynn sulkily, crossing his arms on his chest, “I wouldn’t be surprised at all in this fuckin’ nightmare if it doesn’t.” 

“It has to come! It is... well, morning!” 

“Mountains also aren’t supposed to move across the fucking horizon, but we damn sure saw it happening.” 

“Flynn, your _language_...” 

“Ah yes, my language, the fuckin’ biggest problem of today’s pleasant evening. Indeed, Carl, what are we supposed to do?” 

The ram squirmed on the floor and shrugged. 

“Fucking hell, if only I could smoke now...” 

Flynn couldn’t keep in a snicker. Carl will never change, won’t he? 

“The train...” suddenly said Jenna, and everyone looked at her, “Did everyone hear the train when we were approaching Leo’s house?” 

The room was quiet until everyone realized what she was talking about. 

“I thought Echo’s train yard was abandoned?” pointed out Dax. 

“It is,” confirmed Flynn, “But I heard the train too.” 

“Could it be our way out? Would it be too crazy at night like this one?” asked Jenna. 

“Honestly, I think we have to check it,” Carl jerked his head towards Chase on the bed, “There’s no time. If it gets us outta here... let’s do it. Maybe we’ll just wake up somewhere else, in safety, I don’t know.” 

Leo didn’t say anything. He readily walked towards his cupboard, pulled out a T-shirt and shorts and returned to Chase. The wolf helped the otter put these oversized clothes on then gently slipped his arms under the otter’s body and lifted him off the bed. 

“Let’s go then.” 

Everyone hurried to the exit and then to the old train yard which has been out of use for at least several decades. As they were approaching the rusty railway, they could hear whistles and steady hammering of the train wheels better and better. It was impossible to confuse these noises with anything else. 

“What the fuck,” muttered Flynn, but continued walking forward quickly, checking behind him periodically to make sure that Carl wasn’t too far behind. 

The ditch lights were clearly visible now. There was indeed a train on the railway and it was moving really slowly, definitely not going any faster than 10 miles per hour. However, no matter how slow it was, it wasn’t stopping any time soon. 

“Should we jump onto it? The platform is not too high, we can do it!” shouted Leo. 

“What if it’s just another express delivery to another type of hell?” hesitatingly uttered Carl. 

“Then we’ll enjoy it all together like a fuckin’ peachy dysfunctional family we are,” Flynn responded. 

He was the first to run towards the train. Confident build-up, a jump – and here he was, standing on the platform, restoring his balance, holding onto a car handle. Kudzu followed him and helped the lizard slide the door open. Gila turned back to others, still on the ground and shouted: 

“Only three cars here, jump! Leo, hand over the muskshit!” 

Chase couldn’t help sneering a little. Even in this situation Flynn didn’t miss a chance to remind him that he emitted too many pheromones too often, thanks to his physiology. 

Leo, on the other hand, didn’t seem to find Flynn’s idea very amusing. While everyone else was climbing onto the platform, he was rooted to the ground. 

“ _LEO, QUICK, YOU DUMBASS!_ ” roared the lizard which seemed to yank the wolf back to reality. 

He ran along the train and lifted the weak otter’s body up. Flynn wrapped his scaley arms around Chase, pulling him onto the platform, with little regard to the otter’s comfort. The lizard turned around and saw the ram still running behind Leo, flailing his arms around. 

“Help Carl!” he shouted, pointing with a head movement behind the wolf’s back and shoved the otter’s body into Kudzu’s arms who was still standing next to him. 

The raccoon groaned under the sudden weight in his arms, but he was able to keep his balance and carried Chase inside the car. 

Leo slowed down, drawing level with Carl, who was already running along the last car of the train. 

“Come on, grab the platform!” yelled the wolf. 

“I... I can’t... It’s too...” wheezed Carl. 

“I said... _GRAB!_ ” snarled Leo and gripped his body, showing him that he would support him. 

It seemed to boost the ram’s confidence and he grabbed the edge of the slipping platform. Leo started pushing him upwards from behind. It seemed that Carl would fall to a gruesome death under the train’s wheels at any moment, but he was able to plant his hooves onto the platform and to grip one of the edge handles like a vice. Leo followed him there with little to no trouble and helped the shivering ram onto his feet. The wolf helped Carl jump onto the next platform, but Flynn, who was still waiting outside, was the one to drag him over to the third one. 

“Fuckin’ thing isn’t even scratched,” he sneered, rubbing Carl’s beanie between his massive horns. 

“You wish,” the ram smiled weakly. 

Leo turned around to look at his house which was getting smaller and smaller with each second, and for a second, he thought that someone was looking at him from the bedroom window with both hands pressed against the glass. That body was so familiar. _It almost looked like_... 

He shook his head and entered the dimly lit car, followed by the ram and the lizard. Flynn, after hesitating for a second, fully closed the door. After noticing Jenna’s questioning look, who was sitting next to the exit with TJ, he said: 

“Gives us more chances to wake up in the normal world. Or, in some other fucked-up nightmare, let’s test our luck, I guess.” 

Jenna snickered and the lizard went further into the car. As he was going down the car, he saw the others: He went past Carl, who was occupying three seats in a horizontal state; Dax, who smiled at him as he passed; Kudzu, silently looking at the floor. Flynn sat on a creaky chair facing Leo, who was laying Chase in such a way that his head would be on his lap. The wolf took the scruffy kitchen towel out of his bulging pants pocket and started pressing it again against the otter’s neck. 

The car itself didn’t seem out of the ordinary whatsoever. It looked really old, the seats and dirty windows were covered in scratches, dim yellow lamps were hanging from the ceiling, swinging left and right with the train’s movement. It looked like it was indeed a very much... _normal_ train. 

At the very end of the car there was another figure on a seat, making itself as small as possible, making no attempt to approach them at all. Flynn was sure it was Clint, even though he didn’t really give a damn about it. 

He pushed back in his seat and started watching Chase. The otter felt his gaze upon him and briefly looked back at him, tilting his head sideways. He almost immediately started looking at the ceiling again though, not daring to look at his friend, who he’d treated like absolute dirt only a few hours ago. Of course, locking the otter up in a room full of spiders wasn’t very dandy either, but he felt that he deserved everything that happened to him and possibly was coming to him. For the first time in so many years he thought clearly... and completely on his own. 

The train was as slow as a turtle and it seemed like the eternity could pass before they would reach anywhere. No one knew how much time they’d spent there before light started breaking through the dirt on the glass. The tension inside the car could be cut with a knife, but this time it was for a good reason. The morning was coming. 

When first buildings started appearing behind the windows, Flynn lifted himself from the seat and closely observed the outside. 

“Payton,” loudly announced the lizard. 

They actually made it to the neighbouring town. The train started moving even slower than before and, with a deafening screech, it came to a halt. Everyone was already standing next to the door, when Flynn confidently slid it open with a sigh. 

Bright sunlight burst into the car with the sound attracting a fox in the uniform who turned around and looked at the train. 

“What the hell?! Where the hell did you come from?” shouted the worker. 

Flynn shortly cleared his throat and said: 

“We’re from Echo.”


	3. ALONE

Even though it wasn’t really a bumpy ride inside an ambulance, sudden jolts that occurred from time to time made Chase wince – it felt as if someone was thoroughly drilling inside his temple every time they happened. The sirens that were wailing outside also didn’t help. 

What did help, however, was Leo’s paw, gently stroking the fur on his head. One could’ve thought that he was a desperate husband by the way he demanded the paramedics to allow him inside the vehicle to be next to the otter. On one hand, his actions were pretty damn worrisome, but on the other... Chase agreed to take what he could get. He wouldn’t refuse any kind of support, at least for a few minutes, while they’re driving to the hospital. The wolf seems to be enjoying himself as well, so no harm done, right? 

After some time, this ride started making Chase really drowsy, but falling asleep was definitely not the best idea. So, he pinched himself on the stomach, winced again and continued lying on a stretcher, expecting a soon arrival to the hospital. It was quite dark inside and Chase allowed himself to close his eyes, but not to fall asleep. The wolf kept stroking his head without saying a word. 

Time crept on, and Chase started thinking that this ride was taking way too long – Payton wasn’t a big city at all. How much time could it take to get to the hospital from the railway station? 

And then something became absolutely clear, he felt it with his body, and then he heard it. _Something was wrong._ The ambulance wasn’t shaking at all, even though it definitely kept driving. The humming of the engine seemed... off, something about that sound resembled a bee hive a lot more than an actual engine. The wailing sirens outside weren’t doing so in a particular rhythm anymore. The noises were overlapping, distorting each other and themselves, and bone-chilling screams were becoming clearer with each minute in this cacophony of sounds. And then Chase realised another thing – the hand that was touching the fur on his head certainly _did not_ belong to Leo. The fingers did not resemble the ones the otter remembered so well – these were thin, totally hairless and too... sharp-clawed. The movements of that hand changed as well. Instead of gentle strokes this hand was basically slapping Chase on his head and then, with a _slippery_ motion glid towards the back. 

Chase in that moment felt a pure panic. It was similar to sleep paralysis except he could move his limbs, albeit with great difficulty. His eyelids weren’t opening, and it was for the best – if his brain added imagery to what he heard and felt at that moment, he would simply go mad. He was able to open his mouth and scream, but his tongue and lower jaw felt like they weighed a ton and only a muffled croak came out. 

“ **DON’T WORRY, CHASE, YOU AREN’T IN ECHO ANYMORE, YOU’RE COMPLETELY SAFE** ,” heard Chase a cold and almost scoffing voice inside his head. 

_( no, not again, no, no, n- )_

“ **I’M STILL HERE. I’M NOT GOING ANYWHERE, YOU’LL ALWAYS BE WITH ME, I WON’T LET YOU FORGET AGAIN, IT WAS YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU, YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!** ” 

The hand dug its claws into Chase’s forehead and firmly sunk them into the skin under his short fur. 

And with that, the paralysis was over, he woke up, opened his eyelids and screamed as loud as he could. He wasn’t inside an ambulance anymore. He was sitting on a bed inside a hospital room, covered in cold sweat. There was no one around him, but he could see people going back and forth in a corridor behind a door window. His screech obviously alerted a nurse, who immediately opened the door and inquired if he was feeling okay. 

“Yeah... I think I am. Just a bad dream.” 

_(I hope so...)_

“Where are the rest? How long have I been here?” 

“A few hours. You condition was pretty unstable, so the doctor decided to inject you with antivenin,” mellowly reported the doe-hare. 

“Oh... was it that serious?”   
“You were delirious. Spider bites, including black widows, like yours, aren’t particularly rare in this area, but I have to admit, I’ve never seen such a strong reaction to one.” 

Despite the fact that they were talking about his possible death and that he’s never met this nurse in his life he was very delighted while having this conversation. So weird, but it felt like the first _real_ dialogue during this whole week. 

“You... haven’t said where the rest are.” 

“Hmm, and how many people are you expecting?” 

“I... don’t know.” 

“As far as I know, there’s only your... erm...” 

“A wolf?” 

“Yes.” 

“He’s a friend of mine.”   
“Of course. We’re all lucky he’s out at the moment. If only he heard your scream... Considering, how many problems he caused while telling us how to treat you...” 

“Jesus Christ.” 

“It’s all right, it happens,” she smiled encouragingly, lifting her ears a bit. 

“Yeah? And how often does something like that happen here?” 

“Almost never,” laughed the hare. Chase couldn’t help but giggle in response. 

She suddenly raised her arm with an index finger pointing upwards and added: 

“Well, actually, I think I saw your friend talking to someone in the corridor if that’s of any interest to you.” 

“Just talking? Why? Was that an unusual conversation?”   
“No idea, it’s just... (here she lowered her voice almost to the whisper) … we don’t see too many gilas here. And your friend clearly made him very angry and the lizard just left.” 

Chase didn’t have any time to respond to this as the door swung open again, and a very familiar wolven body has entered the room. 

“Morning, Otter!” amicably said Leo, wagging his tail once. 

Chase smiled back. The hare quickly looked at both of them and left the room with words that made Chase shudder. 

“I’ll leave you for now. You’re in safety, Mr. Hunter.” 

“Are you okay?” frowned Leo, who clearly saw that reaction. 

“Yeah, just... nightmares again. Listen, where are... the rest? I know we two were by ourselves, but others? What are they doing? Was anyone following us?” 

“Hey, wow, so many questions! Relax!” laughed Leo. Chase felt he was dodging the questions.   
“Well?” 

“Haven’t seen anyone. Everyone’s probably still stuck in the police station.” said the wolf after a short pause. 

_(Why is he lying? )_

“Okay.” 

“Do you want to see them?” suddenly asked Leo with no emotion in his voice. 

“I... don’t know,” said Chase honestly. 

“Why?”   
“I don’t think I... I just can’t, Leo,” said the otter with shaking voice. 

Both were silent for some time, when Leo suddenly approached the bed and put his paw onto Chase’s shoulder. 

“I wouldn’t blame you for anything. Especially after what happened today.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, that... thing that was following us. You were definitely under its influence or something.” 

“It wasn’t always like that.” 

“Do you want to talk about that? Now?” asked the wolf with care. 

“No. I don’t think I do,” responded Chase. 

“What _do_ you want to do then? Would you like to stay? I think... we would all be happy to have you around. And you need us.” 

The pause before the “we” wasn’t lost on Chase. He didn’t mean it. He doesn’t care at all what Flynn thinks, Carl – even more so. He hasn’t visited Carl once since the moment Chase left Echo for Pueblo. 

“Please, Leo, not now.” 

“And when?” 

“Jesus, Leo, calm down!” barked Chase, doing a pretty poor job of hiding his annoyance. 

The wolf froze in place for a moment, loudly exhaled and started pacing around the room, looking at the wall patterns and leaves of plants on the windowsill with unbelievable interest. 

The next two hours passed in complete silence, only occasionally disturbed by Leo, who inquired about the well-being of the otter or left the room and entered it again. It felt like true insanity. 

From the moment Chase came to his senses in Echo’s town hall, something has changed within himself, and the otter clearly understood it now. It wasn’t only about not being possessed anymore; it was so much more than that. Leo... if there were any thoughts about rekindling their relationship somewhere deep before, now they seemed like pure nonsense. They broke up. After the wolf had broken his phone because of a joke. Maybe, somewhat cruel joke, but he... he... 

  
_(he’s dangerous)_

… he overreacted. And what happened inside Flynn’s house when he was furiously looking for him in every nook and cranny... No. Chase didn’t even know how to begin this conversation with him. He needed to, though, and as soon as possible. 

Alas, it wouldn’t seem likely to happen that day – a police detective entered the room and the ex-couple assured the doctors that they were able to have a long conversation in their state. They spent the next hour or so recounting in details the chaos that devoured Echo the day before. 

The change of environment was too surreal, it made it seem like months have passed, not just barely half a day. 

Of course, they omitted more... paranormal events and focused on the mass hysteria and endless shooting they could hear from the Main Street. The police officer listened carefully and made notes of what the friends were saying, though Chase mostly let the wolf do the talking. 

The reason everything had transpired could’ve been Chase himself but he couldn’t know it for sure. Chase was unsure if this interrogation was solely to do with the mass hysteria or if he knew something about Sydney. 

“Did anyone else... make it?” asked Chase when the policeman ran out of questions. 

He sternly looked at the otter and responded: 

“I’m not sure if I can tell you for sure, but the town was hit hard. We’re evacuating the people at the moment.” 

“The Main Street... I assume, it doesn’t look very good?” - inquired Leo. 

“I’ll tell you that, there weren’t too many folks left to pick up.” 

Silence ensued again though the leopard broke it quickly. He shoved his notebook and pen into his chest pocket, wished Chase a speedy recovery and exited the room. 

“Well... that’s it,” uttered Leo, “Let’s just hope ink-shitters aren't coming any time soon.” 

He flinched and quickly added: 

“No offence, Chase.” 

“None taken, no worries,” said the otter from his bed. 

“Are you all right?” 

“Yeah, pretty much.” 

“You seem... quiet. Distant.” 

“Sorry.” 

“Listen, do you want me to bring...” 

“No.” 

“Ow. You seem so tense... let me help you relax a bit,” said Leo playfully and reached for the otter’s stomach. 

“ _PISS OFF!_ ” shouted Chase, and the wolf stepped back. 

This silent scene dragged for minutes – Chase in bed, curled in the far corner of the bed and stared daggers at his ex-boyfriend while the latter looked blankly in response with little understanding of what was going on. 

“What is your problem?”   
“Just... don’t touch me.” 

“You didn’t mind inside the ambulance. Or in the train. Or before that.” 

“I did, just couldn’t do much about it.” 

“Oh really?” he was seriously pissed off at this point, his tail kept smashing his legs. 

“Really, you know it yourself.” 

“Is this some sort of a sick plan of yours? Have a fucking massive fall out with me and leave, feeling all good about yourself?” 

“Why would it matter? You know I wouldn’t stay regardless.” 

“I... I hoped you would! You cannot even imagine what I feel every day! This is... this is...” Leo almost screamed. 

“Again, I’m sorry I left like that back then. But I cannot change it now. I cannot fix that and you just cannot leave the past behind! Don’t blame _me_ for that!” 

“You just... you just dumped me here without even saying goodbye! You and Jenna, you...” 

“You behaved like an idiot that day and you know it.” 

Leo seemed just about ready to explode, his lips were silently muttering something. Chase decided to tell him what was bothering him the most. 

“Do you want to tell me something as well? Maybe, something about Sydney? Come on, that would only be fair.” 

“ _STOP TALKING ABOUT IT!_ ” roared the wolf. 

“I don’t think I’ve even started yet. I remembered only today that I was the one who had killed him, let’s start here.” 

Leo was looking at him, shaking with his entire body. 

“Do you want to accuse me? Bash my fucking head in? Be my guest. Do whatever you want, just leave me alone, Leo. You need help and so do I. Except I cannot give it to you and you cannot help me.” 

“I... can’t?” fiercely said the wolf and then quickly added, mispronouncing a couple of words, “Who else are you fucking, eh?” 

The question took Chase off-guard and he just started staring at the mountain of muscle (and fat) standing in front of him. 

“I know you fucked the lizard once, but... you have someone else? Or would you like to lick that scaley cunt’s vag again, eh?” 

“Leo, what I do with my tongue is no longer your concern, in case you forgot that.” 

“How fucking dare you, Otter?!” 

“Seems like you did. _IT’S OVER_ , Leo. And I would really appreciate it if you don’t kick out certain “scaley cunts” next time they want to pay me a visit.” 

That was the last straw for Leo. He struck the wall of the room with all the power he had, leaving quite a large hole there. He turned back to Chase, as if he wanted to say something, but changed his mind. He kicked the door open with enough force that the frame cracked audibly and left with heavy steps. 

Chase was sitting in the same position for about an hour after that’d happened then slowly slid into the pillow and turned to the window. He was experiencing a very weird rollercoaster of emotions. He felt like a knife was twisting inside his chest, but he also felt... relief? 

With a sigh he lay on his back and shot a glance at the door window. What he saw there left him paralyzed with shock and horror. Right there, in that small rectangle of light, was _him._ It was Chase, although a very crude copy of him, as if hidden from all sources of light. He saw that the _false_ Chase was missing his “trademark” goatee. 

“L... leave me...” whispered the otter. 

“ _I WILL TAKE CARE OF LEO, I WILL NOT HARM HIM LIKE YOU DO_ ,” said an extremely monotonous distorted version of his own voice coming from inside his head. 

The figure’s smile twisted, reaching both ears, and “Chase” went away from the door window. Suddenly the gap inside the wall, left by Leo’s fist, started moving. Tarantulas, huge, white, dripping with venom, started filling the room. They climbed onto the bed, they crawled under the blanket, under his clothes. Chase couldn’t move a muscle. He could only moan. One of the spiders climbed inside his mouth. Loud humming and voices from the present and past became all he could hear. When those sounds became overwhelming, he was finally able to shake off his paralysis. For the second time in a single day. Things were going really well. 

The otter was lying in the bed, shaking and weeping. He didn’t realize immediately that the humming he heard during the nightmare still continued. Someone was calling him. Leo somehow managed to save Chase’s phone which was still functional even after the crash into the lake. The doctors allowed him to have his phone with him and now the vibration was echoing through the entire room. It was his parents. 

Chase exhaled, collected himself and answered the call. After the short conversation his mom promised that they would come for him tomorrow. The otter knew the doctors were supposed to observe him, in case antivenin surprises him with some serious side effect, but he didn’t object to getting the hell out of this place anyway. 

After hanging up, he saw among the notifications that there was a missed call from Jenna and a message from Mrs. Hendricks wondering how he was and if Carl was okay. There also was another message. Chase stared at a very simple message from... Flynn he received an hour beforehand: 

“ _Don’t even think about bailing until we speak. Got it?_ ”


	4. CHANCE

“ _Look what you did to me..._ ” Sydney said weakly. His fur fell to the floor alongside some flesh, gnawed by fish, separated from his bones with loud squishing sounds. 

“ _I’LL TELL LEO, I’LL TELL LEO, ILLTELLLEO, ILLTELLLEO, ILLTELLLEO!!!_ ” screamed the creature, looking at Chase with eternal grotesque smile. His cheeks were no longer there and all he could see there was his yellow sharp teeth with something else behind them, something was looking at him from behind his teeth... 

“Mr. Hunter?” the nurse’s voice dragged him from another paralysis. 

The otter jumped in his bed, soaking with cold sweat again. 

“Bad dreams again?” anxiously asked the hare. 

“Yeah. It’s okay, I’m used to them,” muttered Chase. 

“I think your parents are here. I heard them asking the doctor about your well-being. They’ll probably...” 

She didn’t have time to finish her sentence because the door swung open yet again. Two otters, dressed in what looked like the first things they found in their closet, rushed into the room. 

“Chase!” exclaimed the woman and ran up to his bed, throwing her arms around her son. The man went around the bed and put his arms onto his shoulders, too. 

Tears started flowing from Chase’s eyes almost on their own. For the first time in a whole week he felt safe. The very people who loved him unconditionally... 

_(they don’t know yet)_

...and who could make the pain go away, even if just for a little time. 

“We’re going home, Chase, okay? I won’t let you stay in this place any longer. Not Echo, nor here.” 

“Mom, I’m almost twenty-two,” laughed Chase flabbily, though he didn’t mind leaving this place at all. Get away, before another terrible thing stops him from doing so... or before he has to look the others into their eyes. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was in a way thankful that Leo’d gracefully relieved him from the necessity of dealing with infuriated Flynn while he was spending his time in this hospital bed. He just didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to say to his friend... 

_(Is he still my friend?)_

...so that Flynn or he for that matter would feel any better. Maybe... it would be easier not to say anything at all. The lizard knows the truth, it should make it easier for him. The rest... Chase had no idea how he would even speak of it. He imagined Jenna with her judgmental look in her angry eyes; Flynn, pacing around grasping his head in his hands; TJ with his flat ears hiding his face from him; Carl, leaning on the wall of some building with red eyes, though whether his eyes were red because of tears or weed was unclear; and even Leo who was hugging all the rest now for some reason in his head while yelling loudly how he was going to “ _protect them all_ ”. 

_(just like on that day, remember?)_

Trying to get rid of all these thoughts, Chase shook his head and asked quickly: 

“Will they allow me to leave?” and then sneered, realising that the question still had the second meaning to it. 

“Of course, we’ve already signed all the documents,” responded his father, not noticing his reaction, “We’re taking you out of here under our responsibility. Do you trust us?” 

“Yes, Dad. Always,” smiled Chase. 

“Honey, where’s your car?” asked mom suddenly. 

“Somewhere on the way to Payton. Broken to hell,” he gloomily responded and added, “I didn’t do it.” 

“What even happened there, dear?” asked mom putting her paw on his cheek. 

“I... don’t know, mom. A lot of stuff happens in Echo. You know that.” 

The question she asked him didn’t have a simple answer. Indeed, what even happened there? Why did it happen? Is the land really cursed? Did the older generations of people had to go through something like yesterday’s nightmare that they were able to escape? Perhaps, neither he, nor anyone else would find the answers to any of these questions. Although, it wasn’t important anymore. Chase was ready to leave Arizona for good and leave all his concerns behind. 

The otter got up and headed to the bathroom on his staggering legs. After finishing his business there, he looked at his reflection. His fur was extremely unkempt and even hairs of his goatee were protruding to different sides, but it wasn’t the thing that interested him the most. Something has changed in his looks. He was staring at himself and for the first time in years he felt that he was truly the only one who was looking back at him. Even though nightmares kept torturing him, this time they were caused by something else. At least his body fully belonged to him. Finally. 

“Honey, are you okay?” loudly inquired mom from behind the door, seemingly having already packed his scarce belongings Chase had with him. 

“Yeah, I’m coming,” answered he, splashed his face with cold water and returned to the room. 

“It’s Monday, your classes have already started, but don’t worry. I called your dean’s office, explained the situation and they are allowing you to stay at home for some time. Of course, later you’ll have to attend some make-up lessons and...” 

“Mom.” 

“Yes, Chasie?” 

“I want to go back there tomorrow.” 

“Tomorrow?! But you’re too weak, you’ve been through...” 

“I’m all right. I just... another week at home of doing nothing will drive me mad.” 

The prospects of drowning in his own thoughts while having nothing better to do terrified him a lot more. 

“Are you sure?” kept asking his mom. 

“One hundred percent, mom. Dad.” 

“And where’s your camera? And the rest of your equipment?” 

Chase completely forgot about that. 

“Oh. Honestly, I don’t even know. Somewhere in Echo, I assume.” 

“It’s... okay. We will buy everything for you later, let’s just leave.” 

She always hated it here as well. 

“Okay.” 

Chase said goodbye to the nurse sitting behind a desk in the corridor who gave him a salute and the family left the hospital. It was pretty hot that day, but it wasn’t as bad as the scorching hell of Echo. They headed to the small neat parking lot where Chase saw his dad’s Jeep. Not wasting any time, he climbed onto a back seat and pushed back in it with relief. His strong tail dangling through the hole in his shorts unusually freely was now resting on his lap. Chase touched his shorts and felt a sudden twinge of guilt. He forgot that he was still wearing Leo’s oversized clothes. It reminded him that he never got a chance to say goodbye to any of his friends, even if he had no idea how in the world he would do that. 

“I’m _GLAD_ Sydney died,” recalled Chase saying to his friends in the town hall. Did he say it out of anger or... did he actually mean it? How could he face them? They weren’t trying to contact him. So, instead of trying to get him to pay for his deeds, they’ve just decided to wipe him from their lives. 

He looked out of the window, trying to distract himself from dark thoughts. They have already drove away from the parking lot and now they were heading over to the hospital gates. Ornamental shrubs, a small fountain with a single jet of water spraying upwards and a tiny park with benches entered his sight before staying behind the moving car. A lone figure was sitting with his arms crossed on his chest and looking right at Chase. It was Flynn. His white shirt was fully buttoned-up; instead of his usual formal black trousers he was wearing some blue pants and his face expression was impossible to make out from the car. 

The otter gasped and turned away from the window, the insides of his ears were almost as red as the jeep he was in. 

“What’s up?” asked his dad, noticing his son’s behaviour in the rearview mirror. 

“N... nothing. Just keep going.” 

Chase closed his eyes, making a feeble attempt to hide from everything and everyone even though he perfectly knew the lizard was still looking in his direction. 

*******

The next week wasn’t the best time of his life by any means. Chase’s return to college didn’t go unnoticed – the news of a little Arizonian town gone crazy spread even here, in Colorado. He heard the widest range of rumours, some were very close to the truth, others – not so much. For example, even considering everything he went through in Echo, he was pretty sure aliens had absolutely nothing to do with it. 

Chase very quickly became somewhat a local celebrity. Everyone was quick to recognize him as “that otter from Echo”. Now he regretted telling so many people about his plans for the spring break. The only one who didn’t try to pry into him with details about the whole ordeal was his roommate, a wolf named Vincent. He didn’t ask him anything except for a couple of quick questions, for which Chase was eternally thankful. 

Professor Jones, to whom the otter was supposed to turn his project in a week ago, also knew of the whole situation, and after a face-to-face conversation Chase promised to finish it by the start of the next semester. Everyone, including the professors, thought that the trip had seriously traumatized him, …   


( _we_ _re_ _they wrong?_ ) 

...but later, when Chase remembered how Mr. Jones was wording his thoughts of the project, it became obvious pretty quickly that they were expecting no less than a professional documentary from him that would connect the mass hysteria outbreak in the past to what happened a week ago. It sounded like a tremendous challenge for a student still having one full year of education left, which he had very reasonable doubts about, but for now he decided not to think about the project. He remembered perfectly well that procrastination in Echo led to almost complete lack of material by the end of the week, so Chase had quite a bad feeling about his work this time around as well. Nonetheless, he indeed had a lot of other things to take care of at the moment. 

During the classes he was having trouble concentrating, his attention was constantly slipping away. All he could really think of was Echo. His friends. What... he did. He was tortured by guilt during the day, and at night... Well, he could consider it a good night if no one came into his bedroom, and all he saw was a creepy dream that would jolt him out of his sleep into the reality. He could still recall last night’s nightmare where he was standing in Leo’s bedroom, looking at himself in the mirror with the reflection smiling back at him with its sharp teeth from ear to ear. Leo was lying on the bed and screaming his lungs out while the sky behind the window was turning a pale blood red. Another night, he recalled swimming in the middle of an endless ocean, the water beneath him crawling with decaying bodies. He definitely recognized some of their faces... 

Two weeks have passed. At that point, Chase already started considering the ever-so-lovely return to therapy and pills he had abandoned long ago. Vincent was his only ray of sunshine in this nightmare, who was always ready to support his roommate and often (maybe even too often) helped him with his homework. If not for him, Chase would have been definitely kicked out from the university for academic failure. In the evenings the wolf was always happy to show him different editing tricks or just watched some stupid TV shows which was always a nice distraction. He was almost religiously avoiding anime, as it reminded him of Jenna and he couldn’t concentrate on the plot even if he wanted to. Sometimes they were watching such infuriatingly boring things that he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the process under any circumstances. Vincent’s tastes were clearly different from his and the same could be said about their sexual orientations as well. 

During one of those endless TV shows where a group of survivors in the zombie apocalypse just for the hell of it could not kill some bad guy from another survivors group for four seasons, Chase’s phone vibrated. It has become a very much normal thing recently, people who he didn’t even know were texting him all the time and everyone was interested in what had happened in Echo. There was no compassion from those people, everyone just wanted an interview from him for some quick report or something like that. Chase ignored most of his messages these days and he stopped answering the calls completely. However, this time something made him look at the screen and he gasped. 

“ _Carl Hendricks: 1 new message_ ” 

“Hey, Chaz. Doing good?” - asked Vincent, sitting on his left, pausing the video. 

“Yeah... I just need to answer that. If you want to, keep watching without me, I’m good.” 

“If you say so. Some crazy shit is about to start though.” 

“You said the same thing last season as well...” 

“Oh, come on, Chaz.” 

“I asked you not to call me like that!”   
“Sorry, Chaz. Won’t happen again,” snickered the wolf and pressed space. 

An absolutely atrocious-looking CGI wild zebra started eating grass on his screen. Chase rolled his eyes and peered into his phone. Almost a month has passed since the March events and he still hasn’t received a single message from any of his friends. He didn’t send anything to them either. But now... Well, Carl broke the silence. Hesitating for a second, the otter tapped the notification twice. 

_“_ _Yoooooo"_

_(Y_ _ep, it is Carl._ _)_

_“_ _Hey._ _”_

_“_ _Wassup?_ _”_

_“_ _Could be better. Or worse, I guess. You?_ _”_

_“True. I’m OK. You just disppeared, so I’m remindin_ _ya_ _, baby, I’m still here_ _😉”_

( _Jesus Christ, Carl._ ) 

_“_ _Haha_ _, just tons of work. And, well, you know._ _”_

_“N_ _o_ _”_

_“_ _What no?_ _”_

_“_ _I don’t know_ _”_

_“_ _You serious?_ _”_

_“As serious as I am well-endowed. Come on honey tell me what bothers you.”_

_“_ _Do you want to tell me you aren’t blaming me for anything?_ _”_

_“_ _Nah_ _”_

_“_ _Why not?"_

_“_ _Listn_ _dude you know about that monster shit already. Blame him. Plus, when I remember our childhood, Syd wasn’t_ _kinda_ _the best of our group”_

_“_ _Carl, that’s quite a fucked-up thing to say."_

_“I know... I mean, the way he treated Teej, how he wasn’t really himself anymore. Fuck if I no maybe he was possessed as well. I don’t blame you, plus, you were a kid yourself”_

_“How do I live with this? I’m not even sure HOW it happened, I just know that I did that.”_

_“You just keep living, dude. You_ _ain’t_ _some crazy serial killer motherfucker, so it could be an accident, right? AND, I heard you’ve broken up with Leo for good, so it’s your chance to never look back again”_

_“I don’t know, Carl. Not sure if I want to run from it anymore. Btw, who told you about Leo?”_

_“Flynn, they met in Payton. You did run from him though_ _😊_ _”_

_“He told you?”_

_“Ye. Dude’s pissed, but talk to him, will ya? Better late than nevr”_

_“He still_ _wants_ _to talk to me?”_

_“Idk, wanted to two days ago”_

_“Okay, Carl. Thanks. I’ll text you later.”_

_“Chase, w8”_

_“What?”_

_“...”_

_“Carl?”_

_“LOVEYAKISSYAMISSYA!”_

Chase rolled his eyes and responded with a kissing emoji. Carl was talking to him as if nothing had happened. Maybe the rest would as w... 

_(no chance in hell)_

...yeah, no chance in hell. Especially Flynn. The lizard hasn’t texted him since the day he left the hospital and he still wouldn’t text him even if he did want to talk. On principle or because of his pride, that’s just how Flynn rolls. 

On the other hand, Carl texting him like this after all this time could be a sign. Maybe, it’s a chance to fix something at least. A chance to get rid of the nightmares in sleep or in waking. 

His heart was hammering like crazy when he opened his list of contacts and saw the gila’s name. Flynn Moore, with the same picture attached which he hasn’t updated for many years at this point. The otter opened the dialogue window, and “ _Don’t think of bailing_ ” stroke him right over the eyes. He blinked, then sighed and started typing.


	5. CONVERSATION

The lecture had been going for about an hour and Chase wasn’t sure he grasped a single word of it. The pathetic phrases he was able to write down in his notebook from a digital presentation had almost no meaning to him. All his thoughts were directed towards his phone that was lying in front of him. He sent “ _Hello. Can we talk?_ ” the day before, but the lizard still hasn’t responded yet. The otter had discarded at least ten messages before he settled on that, incredibly simple message. Maybe it’s for the best, no bullshit. 

Flynn rarely responded to his (or anyone else’s, to be honest) texts, but he would always reply if it was something serious. It didn’t happen too often, especially after the lake incident, but... it happened. Furthermore, he was the second person (not counting Leo or his own parents) after Jenna who he told that he liked guys. Flynn immediately gave birth to a couple of incredible knee-slappers about “sucking cock”, but there was no aggression behind his words. It was Flynn and Chase didn’t really expect anything else from him. Even more so, the lizard made it really clear that it was fine and “he didn’t really give a shit”, but later Leo told the otter that the gila was gay himself. When Chase brought it up, Flynn just shrugged – he wasn’t the one to share personal stuff with others, even with his friends. At that time, he almost stopped hanging out with them and got up to his neck in work. Perhaps, unloading freights every day made it bearable for him to deal with the burden on his own soul. 

Chase and Flynn’s relationship somewhat improved after the mutual coming-out. The latter even openly flirted with the otter a few times which always ended with Leo’s tantrums. Chase was sure that it was exactly the reason the lizard was doing it in the first place – he always had a field day while pissing the living hell out of the wolf. Obviously, his flirting never led to anything, very largely because of the age difference. Flynn was three years older than him and Chase was fifteen at the time. 

After the otter had left Echo, he didn’t really talk to any of his friends, excluding half a year spent with Carl in the same dormitory room. He didn’t talk to Flynn either. However, when the friends reunited about a month ago, a spark did hit them. Maybe, it was the spark that had always been there. As good as things could be in that hellhole, it was indeed a good time he spent with Flynn. At least, before the events in “the smoke room” and the town hall, of course. 

Thinking of the lizard caused Chase immense feeling of shame. Now, his smooth bailing from Payton was added to the recollection of his memories with Sydney and his words about the gila in the town hall. And if he was to believe Carl, Flynn _still_ wanted to talk to him. Probably, if he saw Chase’s text and hasn’t responded, it would only be fair to give him more ti... 

The phone vibrated. The display brightly turned on. 

“ _Flynn Moore: 1 new message_ ” 

His heart started hammering again and the lecture stopped existing for him entirely. He was in the back row, so he wasn’t really afraid that someone would notice him being preoccupied with something non-related to the class. He didn’t care at all, really. Chase opened the message. 

_“The fuck you want?”_

_(Well, hello, Flynn)_

_“Already told you, I want to talk.”_

_“Holy shit. They only let you go now? Must have been a really big-ass spider to fuck you up this good, you poor thing.”_

_“Listen... I know you saw me leave. Sorry we didn’t talk in person.”_

_“Your friendly_ _wolfboy_ _didn’t let me see_ _ya_ _. What made you pussy out?”_

_“My parents took me away, there was no time.”_

_“Jesus fucking Christ, Chase, you’re 21.”_

_“I had a very good chance to leave and I used it.”_

_“Incredible.”_

After that, Flynn hadn’t texted anything for five minutes, so Chase nervously texted him again. 

_“So, you still want to talk?”_

_“Are you kidding me?”_

_“What?”_

_“The fact alone that I’ve responded is a fucking miracle, and now you want me to ask you questions via some shitty messenger?”_

_“I can call you.”_

_“Chase... you’ve actually managed to break up with Leo, so there’s no fucking way you’re this retarded.”_

_“What do you want from me, Flynn? To go back?”_

_“Why the fuck does it matter what I want? You texted me.”_

With a sigh Chase told him the truth he didn’t want to admit for quite a while. 

_“I want us to finally leave all the shit behind. I want you to feel better. I want to be able to live with myself.”_

_“Shit, I wish I could sing as beautifully, pal. And how would we do that? Get all together and go on a big hike?_ _Teej_ _will piss his panties when he hears about this one for sure.”_

_“We need to talk. You and me. Fucking hell, Flynn, you were the one who wanted us to!”_

_“We’ll talk when I’m ready. I_ _waited,_ _pretty sure you’ll be able to as well.”_

_“When, Flynn?”_

_“I’m really not in the mood for this crap right now,_ _muskshit_ _.”_

_“Okay. I’ll talk to you later then. Thank you for replying, friend.”_

_“You’re welcome.”_

Something was wrong. Chase looked at this last text, but he couldn’t understand what’d thrown him off. The phone vibrated again, and... 

_“Fuck off.”_

Oh. Here it is. Now it felt right. Chase couldn’t help but sneer. 

The rest of the lecture went by pretty quickly and by the end of it he was even able to grasp the meaning of some philosophical paradoxes he’d made notes of. 

*******

He ran forward, the stone walls of the artificial corridors inside of a mountain surrounded him. With each step it got darker and darker and soon he saw nothing in the pitch-black darkness. He couldn’t turn back, the thing that was chasing him would never keep him alive. The sounds of pickaxes banging on the stone and muttering of workers echoed through his head, but these noises were as though they were played through a damaged phonograph, chaotic and distorted. Heavy breathing and scratching of the claws behind him were enough to make him keep rushing into the mines, into the emptiness of the abandoned corridors. 

“ **COME BACK, CHASE!** ” howled the thing behind him which made the otter run even faster. 

He didn’t know where he was headed, the only thing that mattered was very simple. If it reaches him, he’s finished. 

“ **COMEBACKTOMECOMEBACKTOMECHASEYOUFUCKINGBIIIIIIIIIIITCHHHHHH!!!** ” the bone-chilling screech filled the mines, and the otter screamed as well. 

The corridors were twisted like intestines of some abhorrent monster and Chase abandoned any attempts to remember the way back a long time ago. The moment the light was completely gone, he prepared himself for the inevitable crash into the first wall on his way. His eyes caught a glimpse of red light flowing into this path from somewhere close. Plucking his sweaty fingers on the wall, he ran as fast as he could in this darkness to the source of light. The creature seemed to have lost him. It was still behind him, but not as close anymore. 

The light grew brighter and brighter. When the otter turned around another corner in these endless corridors filled now with protruding sharp rocks of quartz ore, he saw... a door. The hallway in front of him scattered with quartz bending at impossible angles was leading to an out-of-place wooden door. Two red lights were above it, like two eyes which he... recognized? 

“ **CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE?!** ” the scream went off behind him, just a few feet away. 

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” yelled the otter and ran towards the door. 

When he reached it, he only had a second to realise what was written on the sign plate, before he swung the door open in the state of complete panic. 

“What the...” gasped the otter. 

Before him was the most grotesque scene he has ever seen in his life. The room was filled with corpses in different stages of decay copulating with each other in varying positions and quantities. The whole space was filled with reeking bodies, indescribable moaning and loud music where neighbouring notes kept clashing with each other, as if someone had allowed a toddler to play the piano. 

A few figures in the centre of the room stopped their rhythmic sexual movements and turned their heads towards Chase, some of them clearly snapped their neck while doing so, judging by the angle of the turn. The otter knew them all. Janice and Karen were spreading their legs on the floor; Duke, Dale, Jeremy and... Sydney were standing around them. The latter was clearly an adult and he has changed, but Chase recognized it as Sydney and no one else. 

His dead friend welcomingly waved his decaying arm, resembling a carrion puppet. He croaked, each word was louder than any moan or any note of the horrendous song howling from the speakers. 

_“Wanna join in, Chase?”_

**“WANNA JOIN IN, CHASE?!”** hissed something behind him and the otter turned around with a yelp. 

He only saw the door with “THE SMOKE ROOM” written on a sign plate, _“Welcome home,_ _muskshit"_ written in blood underneath it... and the creature which jumped at him from behind the doorframe, stretching out its long, sharp-clawed fingers. The very same creature that had attacked the van. When its claws dug into Chase’s shoulders and its abysmal black eyes and mouth were all he could see in front of him, … 

… he woke up. Terrified Vincent was shaking him, trying to bring him to senses. The otter kept screaming for another five seconds until he realised who exactly was jolting him by his shoulders and where he was. 

“Fuck my ass...” moaned Chase, wiping tears off his cheeks. 

“Really, now? Okay,” the wolf tried to make a joke, but the otter didn’t even crack a smile. 

“You wish,” said Chase after all while pressing his paws to his eyes, “Was I loud?” 

The wolf turned to the door as though listening if someone was going to enter their room. It was a sufficient answer to his question. 

“Fuck,” whispered Chase, dropping both arms to his sides on the bed. 

“Dude, it keeps happening almost every night. You sure you don’t want some help?” anxiously asked Vincent in his deep voice. 

“Nah, fancy-looking docs writing something in their notebooks while I’m pressing my ass cheeks to their sofas won’t help me. I’ve had my fill,” coldly responded Chase, looking at the white ceiling. 

“What will help then? You won’t hold up much longer like this. I won’t either. I’m gonna start putting sticky tape on your muzzle before you go to bed really soon,” snickered the wolf. 

“Thanks, very kind of you,” quipped the otter. 

“Don’t mention it,” amicably replied the roommate and added, “You know you’ve been saying names in your sleep?” 

“Wh... what names?” frightenedly asked Chase. 

“Phil... Flik? I don’t know. Leon or Leo, I think... and Sydney. Mostly.” 

“Awesome.” 

“You know them?” 

“Yeah. Too well.” 

“Are they your friends? From that town of yours?” 

“Right,” said Chase after hesitating for a little bit. 

“Where are they? Do they know that you... feel like shit?” 

“They do. Cannot imagine though how they would help me.” 

“Listen, man, before you went there during the spring break, things weren’t as bad for you. Something happened, didn’t it?” 

“You know what happened. Mass hysteria and shit.” 

“I meant, happened to you personally.” 

“Vincent...” 

“I know, I know, sorry for prying. I just... you can trust me if you ever wanna talk, all right?”   
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” 

“And now... I’ll offer you _my_ cure, own recipe, mass approved.” 

And with that, he jerked Chase upwards from his bed, which made him yelp, and the wolf wrapped the otter in a bear hug. 

“Wh... wow. What are you doing?” said the otter in complete awe, while not resisting much. 

“Not much. Is it helping?” sneered the wolf. 

His grip reminded Chase a lot of Leo’s, but he tried not to think about it. Despite the fact that this hug was strictly platonic, he missed this type of affection. His heart finally started slowing down and then he felt safe again. 

“Don’t you want to say something?” mockingly asked Chase, now petting Vincent’s back as well. 

“Mhm... what am I supposed to say, exactly?” he was a bit taken aback. 

“Aren’t you worried about what is happening right now?” 

“Oh... my... God. Chase.” 

“What?” 

“Please don’t tell me I know exactly what you want me to say right now.” 

The otter tried to decipher this sentence, then gave up and responded: 

“I don’t know, do you?” 

Even in the darkness it was obvious that Vincent rolled his eyes hard and said with such a tone, as if he was about to projective vomit: 

“No homo.” 

“No homo,” Chase returned the phrase with laughter. 

Vincent released the otter and looked at his watch. 

“Well... there’s no way now I’ll fall back asleep, thanks to some amazing roommates, so I’ll study for a bit. I needed to revise some stuff for today’s seminar anyway.” 

“I’m sorry,” said Chase. 

“Forget it,” brushed off the wolf. 

He turned on a small lamp on his nightstand, whipped his earplugs from the drawer and then Chase heard the sounds of Vincent’s favourite heavy metal band from across the room. The wolf fell onto his bed with his bag, which he opened and in the next five seconds he was already surrounded by books. For a second, he shot a glance at Chase again and gave him a salute with a smile on his happy muzzle. The otter couldn’t help but return the gesture. He could never understand how it was physically possible to remember anything when your ears and brains are dissolved by the noises of screeching guitars and howling hyenas, but to each their own, as they say. 

Just like the wolf, Chase had no doubts that he would not be getting any more sleep tonight. It was a bit over four in the morning and it was still pitch-black outside. With a sigh he sat at his desk and opened his laptop. The display blinded the otter for a couple seconds and the cooling pad gently came to life. Chase also thought about studying for a bit, because he doubted he would do swimmingly at the seminar, but there was no way he’d be able to remember much. 

As if in response to his dilemma a notification from Smoke popped up in the corner, the app for those into games. Someone has sent him a friend request. Someone with a nickname... “ _Captain_Amicus_ ”. 

“No way...” whispered Chase, because there was only one guy in this whole world with that nickname who could be contacting him now. 

_“Dax?”_ immediately responded the otter. 

_“_ _Mhm_ _. It wasn’t hard to figure out that it’s me, then?”_

_“Not in the slightest_ _😊_ _How did you find me?"_

_“Checked Carl’s friends list. Decided that only you can be_ _Otter_In_Pueblo_ _. Listen, do you have Dissonance? Would be simpler to_ _voicechat_ _there. That is, if you aren’t planning to go to bed, of course. I’m awake because I have a day off today,”_ sent his essay Dax after a minute of typing. 

The next hour flew by. Chase and Dax spent it playing “Black Spirits-2", the game that in this year has frayed the otter’s already weakened nerves pretty well. At the moment they were trying to defeat a massive dragon which you wouldn’t normally need to kill to begin with, but Dax felt that he was entitled to smashing its massive toe, and now they were paying the price. Narrowly escaping a jet of flame, Chase was able to smack the beast with his poleaxe, but it was when the dragon decided to fly upwards. In the next moment, it set aflame the entire arena underneath, which immediately drained the HP bar for both of them. 

“Shi-i-i-it!” mournfully exclaimed the salamander with his unusual rattling voice and then added, “Oops.” 

Someone has opened a door in his room, and then the otter heard a very familiar voice. 

“If I hear one more sound, I’m gonna stick my foot right up your ass and you’re going to be washing the dishes for the next two months,” 

“Sorry, Flynn. Won’t happen again,” apologetically responded Dax, confirming Chase’s suspicions. 

During their talk before the game the salamander did mention he lived in Payton now, but the otter never asked if he lived alone. Well, the answer arrived on its own. 

“I didn’t know you still lived together,” said Chase, a bit taken aback. 

“Well, yeah. After everything that had transpired, it was obvious we’d stick together. Plus, the money situation is easier this way. My college is also a lot closer now, awesome!” 

“And... how’s Flynn doing?” 

“Not... his best days, that’s for sure. But he’s managing. Nothing is going to break that fella.” 

“That’s for sure. So, what’s his job?” 

“He started working in a local supermarket. Has almost no days-off.” 

“Did he ever say anything about how he’s... well...” 

“We talk a lot more now than we did in Echo, that’s for sure. But he doesn’t tell me much, you know. He’s... keeping to himself, mostly,” sadly responded Dax. 

It has been another ten days since their messaging with Flynn except for a couple of dry messages back and forth nothing else has happened, including “the conversation”. Chase started to understand what would be the best way to have this conversation. 

The rest of the time, before warm goodbyes with his friend and university classes, the otter spent in the game. His mood improved dramatically, despite the message “ _YOU DIED_ ” appearing on the screen too often for his liking. 


	6. CURE

Chase and Carl were walking through the hallway, completely silent. Their first school day after the “incident” had just finished. Their parents were very much sure that the chance to see other kids and to dive right back into “normal” life would help them feel better, but the otter was sure it was just as much of an awful day as the day of Sydney’s death. Just like his funeral day even though no one but Flynn attended it. 

All teachers and classmates were treating them differently today. Some were avoiding them like a leper. Some were wearing a constant façade on their muzzles, absolutely no one even tried to talk to them with the predictable exception of Clint and Jeremy with their familiar snarls and threats, but you couldn’t expect anything from those two assholes. During the lessons all teachers decided it was necessary to bring up Sydney, what happened and how important it was to stick together with friends and move forward. Chase was feeling more and more sick of this circus. Every person on their way, every empty chair reminded him of their late friend. It was unbearable, and the otter couldn’t wait to get home again. It seemed like Carl was feeling the same way, with an extra layer of his everyday social anxiety. The ram had taken to following Chase everywhere. 

Now that they’d left the stuffy school corridors, they were walking in scorching heat outside towards the gates and the bus stop. That’s when they heard fast steps behind them and turned around. Leo was hurrying towards them with complete desperation written all over his muzzle. 

“Hello again. Can... we speak?” he said slowly, articulating every word. 

“Yes, of course, Leo. Are you okay?” asked the otter quietly. 

“I’m... yes. Okay. How is school?” 

“Probably had just as good of a day as you.” 

“Yes. Right.” 

Even though his English became unbelievably better, strong Spanish accent and simple choice of words were still prevalent. Especially now, when he was so emotional. 

“You... Where’s Jasmynn? TJ? And Flynn?” asked Leo, scratching his neck. 

“Jas and TJ must be free as well. Flynn... I don’t know, his schedule is different,” uttered Carl, drawing circles with his hoof on the ground, eyes peered that way too. 

“Flynn’s free,” assured Leo, “I only don’t know where he is.” 

Like a charm, the fox, with the lizard towering over her, showed up that very moment at the school exit. They were clearly engaged in an unpleasant conversation. A little droopy lynx was trotting behind them, holding onto the straps of his huge bag on his back. The two groups froze, looking at each other, and then Leo broke the silence. 

“Hi!” 

Jasmynn and TJ waved at him with a feeble smile, and Flynn gave a short nod. 

“Listen... can we speak? Together?” the tone of Leo’s voice was almost begging. 

Judging be face expressions of the three at the school exit, they didn’t find the idea very pleasant, but Jasmynn ended up coming anyway, followed by TJ and Flynn. Everyone was avoiding looking at each other. Only Leo was shooting quick glances at all of them, as if trying to entangle them with invisible ropes. 

“How are you?” asked the wolf, trying to kick off the conversation. 

“Alright,” uttered TJ. The rest didn’t say anything or just shrugged. 

“This week... very bad,” continued the wolf, his fingers were gripping the sides of his T-shirt. 

“Couldn’t fuckin’ put it better myself,” heard Chase Flynn mutter under his breath. 

“And I... I... _¡Puto_ _inglés!_ ” suddenly barked the wolf and Jasmynn reassuringly touched his arm. It seemed like it made him collect himself again. 

“I want that you know. We are together. Yeah?” 

When no one responded, Leo clearly got angrier and asked again. 

“Together?!” 

The rest just nodded. 

“And I... promise...” his eyes filled with tears, “I will protect you. No one will hurt you, yeah? I... I will _die_ for all of you!” 

His own choice of words made him even more furious, he helplessly threw his arms into the air and started wiping his tears, flowing from his eyes. Everyone was looking at him. Flynn’s arms started shaking. 

Jasmynn gave a sob and hugged Leo, her tiny hands couldn’t even reach each other on the wolf’s massive back. With a sigh, Carl awkwardly embraced the two from one side and TJ did the same on the opposite side. Crying Chase also put his arms on Leo and Carl and in a few seconds even Flynn joined in, hugging Jasmynn and TJ. They were sobbing for a long time and they were doing so loudly. Leo, crying the loudest, kept shouting that he would always protect them and there was also Flynn. Between his weeps he kept screaming into the clear sky all sorts of questions that had been tearing his soul apart that week, and nobody answered. 

They completely lost track of time, but enough time has passed for someone to call their parents. One by one, their moms and dads drove to the school and took them away, not saying a word, trying not to disturb their children’s unity in grief. Jasmynn was taken by Leo's parents, of course.

Chase was left alone, looking at Flynn’s aunt leaving in her car with the lizard in the front seat. The gila was looking at the otter and Chase did the same until the car disappeared at the turn. 

Chase limply kicked a small stone to a side, wiped his muzzle with his T-shirt sleeve and sat himself on a bench nearby. All that hugging came at a big price in such weather – he was pretty sweaty. He desperately wanted to swim, but just thinking about any body of water drove him crazy at the moment. So, he tried to focus his brain on his friends instead. The friends who would never abandon him... and he would never abandon them. 

His dad’s Jeep stopped at the school gates, and the otter stood up. Without raising his head, he headed to the car, kicking an unfortunate plastic bottle on his way. When he almost reached the car, he looked up and froze on the spot. The car was filled with water and jets of it were rushing from under the doors and the air vent. The inside of the vehicle was still filled with liquid. Sydney was behind the wheel, his head barely reached the top of it, but Chase could still clearly see that his dead friend was looking at him and smiling from ear to ear. Suddenly, Sydney screamed, his lower jaw fell to chest level. His eyes were burning red, rapids of bubbles were shooting from his mouth and he was looking at the otter, shaking with rage. 

“N... no...” groaned Chase and ran back the way he came from. 

The car was going right at him, accelerating with each second. There was no way he would have time to reach the benches... swings... anything. The noises of a roaring engine and Chase’s screaming blended together and, in his head, he heard: 

" _YOU WILL NEVER GET RID OF ME, CHASE, NEVER, NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY... CHASE_ **_CHASE_ ** ******_CHASE_ ** **_HUNTER CHAAAAAAAAASE HUUUUUNTEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR_ **” 

“Mister Hunter?” an annoyed voice went off above him and the otter jumped in his place, painfully hitting his knees on the underside of his desk. 

Professor Jones was right beside him and his groupmates were looking at him, giggling and turning away again. 

“Slept well?” inquired the deer still holding his book in his hands. 

“Not really,” muttered Chase, “I’m sorry, Professor. I don’t get much sleep.” 

“I’m sorry to hear that, Chase, but I can assure you that I will not take it as a compliment that you are trying to restore your energy during my seminar,” came the reproach. 

“I’m sorry,” was all the otter could muster. 

“So, I know that some of you are planning to have an early exam session,” continued the deer returning to his desk, clearly pursuing the topic he’d started while Chase was out of it, “That’s why I ought to remind you that it also implies the deadline shift for your course video project. I am expecting to receive the copies from you via email in two weeks.” 

“Same... for me?” apologetically asked Chase. 

“Mister Hunter, I am aware that we’ve had a separate agreement with you. Although, I’m starting to think you are exploiting my trust and understanding,” frowned the professor. 

“Of course not, sir, I just...” 

“You _have_ begun working on your project, correct?”   
“I have,” lied Chase. 

That project was among the last things in the list of his priorities. After the night spent with Dax, the otter knew what he needed to know and the mere thought of it frightened the living hell out of him. Nevertheless, it was the only option, there were no doubts about that. He has found the cure. The cure for nightmares, for guilt... maybe it could help his friend as well, if not heal then at least numb his pain. The gila wanted to speak and the otter realized that the only right way to do this would be to look into the eyes of his demons. To look... Flynn into his eyes. He had to go back. Go back... to Echo. 

_(walking in circles...)_

Carl mentioned in one of the latest texting sessions that Flynn had considered going away, so Chase knew he didn’t have much time at all. Without hesitation he applied for the early exams, but he still hasn’t told the lizard anything about his upcoming visit. All texts from him were short and empty, but Chase knew (thanks to Dax) that he still was in Payton. The salamander had mentioned the day before that the lizard was in a constant foul mood but not a word about packed suitcases or anything like that. _He was still there._

Days and nights the otter spent with his textbooks, trying to cram as much knowledge (whether learnt or just memorized) into his head as possible, but he was aware there was no chance he would get perfect grades. However, he wasn’t concerned with that, all he cared about was moving on with his life. 

When he admitted to his parents during one of the calls that he wanted to return to Payton (of course, not mentioning Echo), they weren’t huge fans of the idea, just like he expected. Although, after one hour, during which his mom had cried several times, he was able to convince them that he truly needed that. His parents ran out of ideas of how to help him after all these years, and maybe, the fact that he was able to find the solution on his own made them change their minds. 

The next week was filled with exams, endless revision and again, exams. It became absolutely unbearable quickly, and if not for Vincent, who agreed with his plan, made sure that the otter didn’t forget to eat in the evenings and checked his knowledge of subjects, he would have gone bananas. Well, even more so than usually. 

When everything was finally behind him, and to Chase’s surprise, he somehow managed to snatch firm Cs and Bs in everything and it felt as if a mountain fell off his shoulders. For the first time in a long period he got a lungful of air and relaxed. He even let himself spend the following two hours in the sports building on campus, swimming back and forth in a pool. He enjoyed the coolness of water, lying on the bottom. He spread his arms and legs and kept his balance using his strong tail. The water cleared his mind. He had no idea why he hadn’t attended the pool while he was taking the exams. Now this regret only caused him a sad snicker. 

“Are you sure it’s a good idea?” asked Vincent thoughtfully later, while Chase was packing up his belongings. 

“Absolutely,” answered the otter who was stacking a few disks with videogames he almost never touched into the corner of a box, “My parents should get here in a few days and take this crap away.” 

“Won’t you deposit some of it into the storage room?” 

“If you leave, you cannot store anything there.” 

“Really? I thought... anyway, I don’t know about it, I just usually pack my stuff and take all of it with me for summer,” shrugged the wolf. 

“Same here,” said Chase, applying sticky tape to the box openings. 

His half of the room was totally empty now except for three beige cardboard boxes on the floor and his duffel bag on his bed, leaned on the headboard. This sight made Chase happy and sad at the same time. 

“Dude, you okay? You’re behaving like you ain’t coming back!” chuckled Vincent, “You remember you still have one more year to go, right?” 

_(if I get back)_

“Yes, of course. It’s just... the next few days won’t be too fun.” 

“I get it. Can’t feel any good, returning to that place, can it?” 

“Not one bit. But I have to.” 

“Is someone meeting you there?” 

“I hope so.” 

“What do you mean you _"hope”"_?” 

“Don’t sweat it.” 

“Man, if I find out that no one met you or that you got into prison or... I don’t know, you live on the streets there, trust me, I’ll damn make you sweat.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” laughed the otter. 

“Do you want me to see you off?” 

“No, thanks. I don’t want people to see you “with that crazy otter fag” again.” 

“Chase, I’m serious.” 

The otter squeezed the wolf’s shoulder and uttered: 

“I’m serious too. You don’t have to. You’ve done so much for me in these months already. Too much. A lot more than I... deserve.” 

“Bro, maybe I don’t know all the stuff about you, but you ain’t bad. Understatement of the century.” 

“Well, thank you for that,” smiled Chase. 

“Fucked in the head a little... but ain’t bad,” added the wolf trying to restrain the laughter. 

The otter rolled his eyes. 

“Never mind, I take it back.” 

“I’m just kidding. Anyway... take care of yourself, okay? Who else am I supposed to piss off with my tunes?” 

“Can’t wait to hear those again in the fall!” laughed Chase. 

They embraced each other, and the otter, awkwardly placing the straps onto his shoulders, exited the room. Everything he could think about was buses and eventual change because he was a bit scared – he had never travelled on a public transport for such distance. His journeys from Payton to Echo in his childhood let alone now in Pueblo, were nothing compared to this. His father had sent him a decent amount of money a few days back and now Chase was squeezing a ticket in his shorts pocket on his way to 123 Court Street. 

An hour later, filled with walking and tedious waiting, the otter finally got into a spacious bus and sat in the back row, trying not to attract any attention to himself. Fortunately, no one except a tiger, a couple of shepherds and a buffalo intended to go to Tucson on that day. Chase was in for a sixteen-hour ride plus the change in the city, where he’d spend another two or three hours in a much less comfortable bus on his way to Payton. He had more than enough time to mull things over. Echo’s past, his role in all transpired events, his relationships with everyone who he 

_(temporarily?)_

had left behind... and what he would say to Flynn. 

The bus started off. Just like that train, it was taking him to his salvation. At least, the otter was really hoping for that. He tried to fall asleep, but the hours in which he was able to doze off were restless. Big red eyes were gnawing at him from the front of the bus. Behind the window on his left, he noticed clawed hands, but he knew it was a dream. On the other hand, it didn’t really make him feel any better, since every meter covered by the bus brought him closer and closer to the true source of his nightmares. 

*******

The otter, his legs unsteady from the long trip, went down the bus steps and looked around. He couldn’t believe that his journey was finally over. He was standing in the middle of Payton’s bus terminal, almost empty at this time of the day. It was scorching hot and the sun was fiercely attacking everything which wasn’t hidden in the shadows. Chase was absolutely reeking, and this heat didn’t help in the slightest. 

“Hello, Arizona,” growled Chase as he tidied up his fur situation (not forgetting of his goatee either). He wanted to head over to the cheapest hostel he could find online in the area during the journey, but before that he really needed to drink some water. His own bottles, now packed inside his bag, had been empty for a few hours. He wouldn’t mind sloshing himself with water too. 

There was a supermarket almost right by the bus terminal. Well, “super” for Payton standards, of course. Chase even thought, with a sneer, that this might be the place Flynn worked at, but there was no way he would be so... lucky. Overcoming his immense shame for the amount of musk he was spreading around and pressing his arms to his body to hide the armpits, he entered the store. Trying to act as fast as possible, he went to the nearest fridge and got himself three bottles of ice-cold water. The otter almost ran to the checkout lane, where he was met by a nervous-looking badger. A trainee, judging by his chest badge on a blue vest. He started shaking the bottles in front of the scanner, but the machine had no chance of reading their barcode. The bander’s ears became more and more red, but the bottles kept arrogantly refusing to be scanned. A line already formed behind Chase and the otter really wanted to melt into the ground at that moment. The cashier seemed to have a very similar wish. He raised his eyes to the otter, muttered something apologetic and suddenly he shot a glance somewhere behind Chase. 

“Help me!” mouthed the badger. The otter heard heavy steps coming closer and closer. 

“Holy shit, Barry, how many times do I have to tell you this? Don’t shake the bottles like you’re jer...” said the angry voice. Its owner stopped, noticing the otter. 

Chase turned right, and... yes. Turned out, he was so fortunate. 

“Flynn!” gasped the otter.


	7. MEETING

It felt a little awkward, but Chase waited patiently near the entrance to the supermarket for the lizard to show up. He looked like the most suspicious gun dealer with his duffel bag at his feet, but at least now he had water, having already emptied one of the bottles into and onto his body. 

Sometime later, the doors slid open and Flynn walked outside, now without his blue vest. He was wearing a white shirt and black trousers, just like back in March. He looked at Chase and came to him slowly, towering over him with his impressive height. 

“Hey. Again,” clumsily uttered the otter. 

“Hey yourself,” almost cautiously responded the lizard. 

His hands were in his pants pockets, but he lifted one of them in an irritated manner and undid a few top buttons on his shirt, clearly having had forgotten to do so in the supermarket’s locker room. Chase couldn’t help the sneer, and the lizard raised one of his tough brow ridges. 

“What?” he inquired. 

“Nothing,” quickly responded Chase, shooting a fast glance at black and orange scaley patterns on his chest shining in the sunlight. 

“I won’t lie, I’m surprised to see you here,” said Flynn nonchalantly, even though there was a hint of curiosity in his voice. 

“I won’t lie, so am I. Somewhat,” responded Chase. 

Flynn genuinely smirked. 

“So... what’s your business here, in this ass of the world?” asked the lizard, just as nonchalantly. 

“I have quite a few things planned, actually. Listen, I must be distracting right now, right? You’re working.” 

“I begged off work.” 

“Oh yeah? Won’t you be in too much trouble? You’ve been working for only a few weeks here.” 

“Just for today. Plus, I won’t really have a weepy breakdown if they kick me out,” shrugged Flynn. 

“I just hope there are enough people to do all the work without you,” said Chase while realising how silly he sounds. 

“No worries, muskshit, business won’t fail, so we’ll all be swimming in cash,” chuckled the gila again. 

“I missed you even. Your insults, all that. You’ve always been life of the party,” said Chase, mustering the courage to wink. 

“Fuck you,” immediately responded Flynn and added, “By the way, I didn’t call you muskshit just for shit and giggles. You fucking stink.” 

Arizonian heat had little to do with Chase’s burning face at the moment. 

“Mhm. I was planning to go to the hostel and have a shower. Well, before I entered the store.” 

“Hostel?” asked the lizard. 

“Well, yeah, there’s one around...” 

“Shut up and follow me,” the gila interrupted him, rolling his eyes. 

He was walking on a sidewalk, looking back from time to time to make sure Chase was still following him. The otter was trotting behind, his bag was hitting him on the lower back after bouncing on the straps. It was not the only awkward feeling in that moment – he was confused by the lizard’s seemingly friendly treatment. At least, it was a lot friendlier than he’d expected. After everything that had happened... well, they will have time to touch on all this. 

The lizard was obviously headed to his and Dax’s rental apartment. He turned into an unremarkable back alley and opened a house door of one of the five-storey buildings. He marched onto the second floor; the otter followed. After struggling with keys for a little bit, he opened the door and they entered the cool of the living space. Chase let out a sigh of relief. 

“Enjoy. And welcome,” said Flynn as he was walking to the left, into the small kitchen. 

“Oh. Don’t you need hot climate?” asked Chase looking at the powerful air conditioner transforming this room into a paradise. 

“I prefer heat, yes. But someone here prefers it cooler, so everything is for our favourite nerd. And for you, it seems,” explained Flynn while having a swig of beer he’d fished out from the fridge. 

“You drink in the afternoon?” asked Chase, knowing perfectly well what the answer would be. 

“I drink when I want to,” frowned the lizard, having another swig, “Why do you give a shit?” 

The otter shrugged and decided to change the topic. 

“Where’s Dax?” 

“The Adastra fanboy is at his college, learning how to write his sock fetish fanfiction. It’s Monday, in case you forgot.” 

The thought of being in the area at the start of the week again made the otter shiver. He could only hope that it won’t be a week-long visit, with all possible complications in mind. 

“Oh. Got it.” 

“He should be back soon though. Why don’t you have a shower until then? I’m fucking _begging_ you to have a shower,” said the lizard pointing with his long-clawed finger at the door next to the otter, while leaning on the windowsill. 

“Fine, Flynn, fine,” said Chase, annoyed, sheepishly entering the bathroom. 

The entire space was crammed with a toilet, a sink and a shower pod standing along the three short walls. The otter could barely turn around in the small room. He took off his sweaty clothes and jumped into the pod. The shower gel bottles on a small shelf inside were unfit for fur, which isn’t really surprising, considering who the residents of the apartment were. Chase didn’t care though, he just wanted to have a cold shower and get rid of all the musk... for at least a few hours. He chose a bottle depicting oranges and started thoroughly applying the gel to his underarms and groin, not forgetting about other body parts as well. When he was done with washing, he got himself dried off with one of the towels hanging on the wall peg (he hoped it was Flynn’s towel and not Dax’s). Then he realised he’d forgotten to take any spare clothes with him into the bathroom from his bag. 

“Erm... Flynn?” 

“What?” he heard. 

“Can you please give me my bag? I forgot to take my clothes.” 

“Holy fuck, Chase. Is this your way of trying to flirt with me? Doing a pretty shitty job, not gonna lie.” 

“Flynn!” 

“All right, here you go, dipshit.” 

And with that he swung the door open and handed the bag to the otter. He shot a quick glance at the otter’s groin; his face expression did not change. 

“Saw something interesting?” frowned Chase, yanking the strap from his hand and covering himself. 

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” said the gila and closed the door. 

The otter rolled his eyes again and took out a lightly creased red T-shirt, loose beige shorts and clean boxers. After quickly dressing up and wincing because of quite unpleasant feeling of clothes on still wet fur, he looked at dirty clothes on the floor. He had already started stuffing them into one of plastic bags he had with him, when he heard the lizard. 

“Take your dirty shit here. And the towel, I bet my tits off everything’s covered in your fucking fur.” 

“I don’t really lose my fur that easily, you know...” 

“And I already feel a lot better because of that.” 

With a sigh he exited the bathroom and headed to the kitchen where Flynn pointed at a washing machine next to the kitchen sink. The otter did his best to stuff everything inside, hoping that the lizard wouldn’t feel any other smells he would inevitably comment on. 

“Freshened up?” inquired the lizard. 

Chase stared at him instead of answering. 

“Something’s wrong?”   
“You are... very friendly.” 

Flynn visibly became tense. 

“Would you like it to be different?” he asked nonchalantly. The otter heard the lizard grind his teeth once. 

“N... no, it’s just...” 

“What do you want, Chase? Why are you here?” interrupted Flynn and stared at him with his bright green eyes. 

The otter didn’t know what to say to that. More specifically, how to answer in such a way that he wouldn’t seem completely insane or that he had multiple reasons for his visit. He was also worried how deeply all these plans were poisoned by guilt. 

While he was deep in his thoughts, the front door opened. 

“Flynn? Are you already at home?” sounded a familiar sweet voice. 

“For once,” replied the lizard. 

“Okay. All the teachers today were super pissed-off, I don’t... Listen, has something gone bad? Have you bought your gross cheese again?” 

“Oh my God,” muttered Chase and hid his muzzle in his hands. 

“Get your ass into the kitchen, he doesn’t stink anymore,” sneered Flynn. 

“He?” heard the otter perplexed voice, and then its owner showed up. 

Here he was, Daxton in the flesh. A loose T-shirt depicting a spaceship warping through space, slightly baggy pants... typical Dax. His dark-blue hands and head, covered in cyan spots, froze when he noticed the guest. 

“Chase?! Oh wow!” he exclaimed and wrapped him in his arms. 

The otter genuinely returned the gesture. 

“How’s it going, Captain?” 

“Please, stop,” Dax rolled his eyes, “I’m... okay. It’s better to live here, if I were to be completely honest. I just wish I could ride my scooter more often, but oh well.” 

Flynn, who was still holding his arms on his chest, chuckled and shook his head. 

“How are you?” asked Dax and pointed somewhere in the direction of Chase’s neck. 

“Oh... Well, it doesn’t hurt anymore, but I have a scar now,” replied the otter and rubbed the bite mark when he understood what his friend was talking about. 

“And... in general?” added the salamander cautiously. 

“Could be better,” honestly responded Chase. 

“Mhm,” sagely murmured Dax, plucking the bottom of his shirt. 

“Damn, I’m so glad to see you!” said he after a while trying to diffuse the tension. Admittedly, Chase had no doubts he meant every single word of it. 

“Likewise, Dax,” grinned the otter. 

“Shit, guys, it’s so cute, I almost want to leave.” 

The friends turned to the lizard; he was leaning with his hands on the windowsill with a slightly annoyed look in his eyes peered into them. 

“Flynn, you are the source of positive energy in any room you grace with your presence,” rolled his eyes the salamander.   
“Blow me,” shrugged the gila, and enjoyed another swig of his beer. 

Dax, dismissing the response, turned his attention to the otter again. 

“Chase, have you come here for long? I thought you had school, too.” 

“I already took all my exams.” 

“Oh. Just to come here?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Very cool tourist attraction here, great vacation choice, muskshit,” sarcastically said the lizard. 

“I think it’s obvious I’m not a tourist.” 

“It is,” agreed Flynn. 

“Then... what brought you here?” smiled Dax. 

It was even more difficult to reply to him than to the gila, because he wasn’t interrogating him, the salamander was genuinely friendly and curious. Silence would be too rude, especially since there was literally nothing to be rude to Dax for. 

“I needed... inspiration to finish my project until the next semester begins. And I wanted to see my friends again,” replied Chase, not mentioning the main reasons for his trip. 

“That’s it?” raised his eyebrow ridge Flynn. 

His burning red ears were the response. 

“You didn’t say, how long are you here for?” 

“I don’t know. It depends. I don’t have much money, so I have to do everything as soon as possible.” 

“Money for what?” 

“Well... food, the hostel.” 

“Are you serious, Chase?” Dax was almost offended. 

“What?” 

“Stay here, with us, are you kidding me with that hostel crap?” 

Flynn clearly angrily let some air out of his nostrils, but he didn’t say anything. 

“I... don’t want to impose, guys,” said dumbfounded Chase, especially after Flynn’s reaction. 

“Give me a break. Impose my ass. Flynn, you don’t mind, right?” 

The gila looked at him, then at the otter and briefly replied: 

“I don’t.” 

“Well, perfect!” grinned Dax, “Our couch is unoccupied anyway.”   
He entered the living room and added, almost sadly: 

“We don’t watch TV together... that often.” 

Chase followed him and he finally had a chance to look around. To be honest, he didn’t see anything worth remarking on – the two clearly weren’t trying to put their own touch or personalities on this living space. Just like the kitchen and the bathroom, the living room was bland and boring. The couch stood out when compared to the walls and a couple of armchairs, but that was purely because it was an abhorrent scarlet colour, while the rest of the room was drowning in murky green and gray tones. While Chase was examining his surroundings, Dax had already gone into his room and returned with a bedding set. 

“Thank you, a lot, but I still feel awkward about this...” he slowly took the sheets into his paws. 

“Stop it. I’m sure you’d do the same for us if we ever visited you in Pueblo.” 

“Well, yeah, but I live on campus,” smiled Chase. 

Dax just blew it off with a wave of a hand. 

“You aren’t going to... work today?” inquired the salamander. 

“I don’t think I will now,” shrugged the otter. 

“I don’t really have any homework for tomorrow, and Flynn isn’t working either. Shall we... do something?” offered Dax with excitement. 

“Like?” said the lizard leaning on the wall next to the living room entrance. 

“We can go shopping. Or... I can text Carl.” 

“He’s still here?” asked Chase and immediately got embarrassed. 

Of course, he would be here. 

“Where else would his fat ass go?” frowned the lizard. 

“Do you visit him?” inquired Chase. 

“Went there a couple of times.” 

“On what?”   
“What do you mean “on what”, you dumbass, on my truck.” 

“I thought you’d lost it.” 

“You wish. Some fucker broke one window and scratched a side, but she’s still alive.” 

Chase tried to imagine what Flynn was thinking while walking on abandoned roads of the ghost town looking for his car but stopped. The thought of returning there terrified Chase again. Although, if they were to pay Carl a visit, they would be driving pretty close to Echo’s Main Street. At least, the Hendricks’s mansion was at least somewhat away from the rest of the town and thus it stood out in the prevalent atmosphere of manginess and decay even more so. 

“He’s at home. So are his parents, but he’s still inviting us,” said Dax looking at his phone screen. 

He had clearly already made a choice of leisure activities for them today. 

“Why not?” shrugged Flynn, “Now?” 

“Yeah, now. I haven’t told him about you, Chase, let that be a little surprise,” grinned the salamander. 

The lizard rolled his eyes yet again and headed towards the exit. Chase and Dax followed. Very soon they were in Flynn’s truck which indeed did not look very good. The door window in front was missing, but Chase wasn’t complaining in this heat. Flynn started up the car and the roaring engine came to life. They left the parking lot onto the street which led out of Payton, and in a few minutes, they were surrounded by the desert. Instead of houses they were looking at cacti and tall mountains menacingly towering over the lowland to the left of their truck. 

Remembering how their latest car journey went on this road, Chase was pretty content with the mountains now sliding on the horizon, locking them up inside a deadly loop. Judging by tensed up faces of Flynn and Dax, they were thinking about the same thing. Perhaps, about returning to Echo as well, even for just a little. To the cursed town that took everything from them. And even the salamander, who had only experienced life’s beauties of Echo during the last few days of its life, looked out of his element. 

“Well, here we go,” whispered Chase. 

Flynn, who’d heard him, briefly looked at him from his driver’s seat and grasped the steering wheel, returning his gaze towards the cracked, deserted road ahead of them. 


	8. MONDAY

Chase’s heart sank when they turned around another rock and saw a long road leading to the first houses they have seen in a long while. They arrived in Echo. 

If their last visit was depressing even with people around, now the atmosphere in town was purely eerie. There were a lot more houses with boarded up windows and sand was blowing over the abandoned roads. The Main Street wasn’t really visible from there, but it was obvious that it was just as empty. 

When they were driving relatively close to Leo’s house, the otter hoped the wolf wasn’t at home to notice their truck. Most likely, after everything he returned to his family on the outskirts of Payton. 

“Flynn, where did you see Leo?” Chase asked, looking at black windows of his house, not yet boarded up. 

“In Payton. I tried to fix up my truck there.” 

Chase listened to the struggling car’s engine and raised his eyebrow. Flynn, as if reading his mind, added with a strange smile on his muzzle: 

“Due to unknown reasons, the repairs were unsuccessful.” 

After a few more minutes on the empty road under the scorching sun they reached the splendorous mansion which looked completely out of place in the town. The house was in perfect shape, the flowerbeds and the driveway were clearly meticulously taken care of. As soon as the car stopped and three friends stepped out of it, slamming the truck doors pretty loudly, the front door swung open; an angry adult ram in a formal attire stepped outside. 

“How many times do I have to repeat myself?! No stories...” 

He stopped when he realized who they were. 

“Ch... Chase? Flynn?”   
“Hello, Mister Hendricks. We have Daxton here, another friend of ours,” the otter hurried over to introduce the salamander. 

Dax said hello, the lizard did the same. 

“Carl didn’t tell me he was expecting guests. Does he know you were coming?” inquired the ram. 

“Yes, he was the one to invite us. Maybe he forgot to warn you,” shrugged Chase. 

“Carl, Carl, Carl... Well, come in!” 

The three followed Mr. Hendricks into the pleasant coolness of the luxurious house. The furnishing hadn’t changed much, at least in the rooms they could see from there. The kitchen and the living room looked just like Chase remembered them in March during his last visits. Including that embarrassing premature birthday party. 

Mrs. Hendricks was pouring herself a cup of coffee when Chase and Flynn came closer to say hi. 

“Hello!” 

“Oh my God! Boys, I... did not expect to see you here! How are you?” 

Grabbing her heart in almost a theatrical manner, she approached the otter and the gila and hugged them. After that she looked at the salamander and nodded at him. 

“Erm... I’m Daxton. Dax will do.” 

“Very nice to finally see you in person, Daxton. Carl speaks of you a lot,” smiled she and immediately asked everyone, “How are you all doing? I presume, last few months couldn’t have been... easy.” 

“You can say that,” gloomily replied the lizard. 

Chase and Dax said nothing. 

“Would you like something to drink? Maybe, some lemonade?” she immediately started bustling about. 

“Oh no, thank you a lot, Missis Hendricks, we just want to see Carl,” Chase lifted his arms a little. 

“Very well then. He’s in his room.” 

And with that, the three of them went upstairs. Carl’s room was behind the nearest doors in a long hallway of rooms, some of which were in use, while some of them were completely empty. 

Chase knocked on the door. No response. He knocked again, louder this time. There was no sound of dragging hooves on the other side and Flynn, gently pushing Chase to the side with a sigh, opened the door. 

They were struck with a wave of weed aroma. Inside was the same nerd paradise they’d remembered – a huge collection of action figures, any and all possible gaming consoles, posters occupying almost all available space on the walls; a couple, one depicting some anime character, and the other – some maned wolf with a braid and golden glasses were proudly hanging on the ceiling. On the bed at the far wall, like on a throne, was Carl. In one hand he had the smoking remains of a joint while the second one was busy with fixing his beanie between the horns. 

When he noticed that someone’d entered the room, he tried to focus his gaze on them, and he might even have succeeded. 

“He-e-ey...” he grinned slowly, “These are... My... favourite...” 

He hiccupped and fell silent, not even bothered with finishing the sentence. Chase approached him and squeezed his shoulder a little. 

“Hey, Carl,” he smiled. 

“Ch... Chase...” beamed Carl, “What is... fu-u-uck... whatcha doing in here? Am I seeing shit?” 

“I am very much real,” responded the otter. 

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Carl, how much of this shit have you smoked today?” feverishly asked Flynn and with a subtle movement of his hand he yanked the joint out of the ram’s hand and threw it out of the ajar window. 

“Hey...” said Carl sadly, trying to catch the lizard’s hand when the deed had already been done, “I don’t know. A lot.” 

“Why? Are you okay?” kept asking the lizard. 

“Better. As awesome... as it gets,” said the ram, rocking back and forth, “Was just... nervous, I guess. Plus, I need to put the lighter you gave me to good use, right?” 

“Nervous? Because of us?” asked bewildered Dax. 

“Damn, baby Dax. Wassup?” Carl seemed to notice him just now. 

" _Baby_? That’s new,” sheepishly muttered the salamander. 

“Hey, I’m joking... I’m not into cocks _that_ much... like these two,” he waved in the general direction of Chase and Flynn and winked, “Hey Flynn... don’t miss your chance!” 

“The fuck you’re talkin’ about, Carl?” asked the lizard, dumbfounded. 

The ram didn’t give him any answer, but just giggled and lay on his bed. The sound of steps went off in the hallway and Mrs. Hendricks looked into the room. 

“Carl, we’re leaving. Have a fun ti...” 

Only then did she see the state of her son and the weed. In combination with these, reading the others’ faces told her the rest. 

“Carl!” 

“Yes, ma?” 

“I... I won’t say anything in the presence of your friends, but... Good lord, Carl!” she screamed weakly again, “How are we supposed to leave you here like that?” 

“Missis Hendricks, we’ll be here. At least, until he gets better, or... until his mind’s eye opens,” assured her Flynn. 

She cast a sidelong look at him, clearly not in a mood for joking, but responded: 

“Thank you. Please, look after him, okay?” she almost begged and quickly added, looking at Carl’s horrified face, “You can also stay overnight. There’s enough room for everyone.” 

“Erm... okay,” said Chase, not necessarily understanding what had just happened. 

Mrs. Hendricks limply waved at them and went downstairs, rubbing her eyebrow. The rest exchanged looks and Flynn turned to Carl. 

“What... what’s happening here at nights?” 

The ram squirmed on his bed and uttered: 

“I can still hear noises at night... sometimes I think someone’s behind the window, but I don’t know. I am... still here, in Echo. You know how it is.” 

“Do you stay alone here often?” inquired Dax. 

“Since March? A lot... rarer. They... worry about me,” thoughtfully muttered Carl, his words didn’t work well with his red eyes. 

“It seems like we are staying then,” shrugged Chase. 

“Of course, we are. How are we supposed to leave this idiot here in this state?” immediately said Flynn. 

“But... what about my school? And your work?” frightenedly asked the salamander. 

“Well, seems like tomorrow is our day-off,” smiled the lizard at his housemate. 

“Awesome,” indignantly replied Dax and started examining the posters on one of the walls. 

The next few hours had a very mellow feel to it. Carl even managed to return to their dimension and now was showing something in his phone to Dax, both were seated in his massive white beanbag. Flynn and Chase were seating on the bed, chewing slices of pizza the lizard had found in a freezer downstairs. 

“So... what happened in Echo that night? After we’d left in the van?” asked Chase, trying to fill in the blanks, “I don’t remember or know much, besides the train and... well... that thing on the road.” 

“The town was wrecked up, I found out later,” started Flynn, fiddling with the slice in his fingers, “Folks shot each other up, those who were fast or sane enough hid away. The police brought them all to Payton in the morning. We were on the train that collected the last remaining carriages from the yard. That’s why it was so slow – the railway here is fucked-up to shit.” 

“How many people survived?” asked the otter staring at the lizard, who was diligently pulverizing a tiny piece of yellow bell pepper between his fingers. 

“Besides us? Maybe ten people.” 

“Someone... we know?”   
“Chase, we know everyone who lived there,” raised his eyebrow ridge the lizard, but added, “If you need names, I know for sure Micha got out. That bat fucker. Clint was with us... Mark, I believe... oh yes, my auntie made it out alive as well.” 

Flynn visibly became tense. Carl and Dax were listening to them, even though Carl was still holding his phone in his outstretched hand. 

“Have you seen her?” quietly asked the otter. 

“No. Fuck ‘er,” grinded his teeth Flynn. 

Chase decided not to pry, considering how crazy their last meeting with the Echo’s mayor was. Carl suddenly exhaled and pushed back into the beanbag slightly throwing Dax into the air and almost into his lap with that movement. 

“You okay?” asked Chase. 

“Guys... I haven’t smoked at all for two weeks. Until today.” 

This news was as unexpected as the arrival of aliens, if those decided to enter the kitchen and engage in a Japanese tea ceremony. 

“Wow. Really?” asked a surprised Dax, looking the ram right into the eyes. 

“Uh-huh.” 

“And... what happened today?” Flynn inquired, confused. 

“You happened,” nonchalantly replied Carl. 

The rest exchanged their looks. 

“I’m afraid of going to bed. I’m afraid of being alone in this room. I’m afraid of this town, guys,” spouted he three sentences in a row, each one weaker than the previous one. 

His eyes filled with tears. 

“I’m sure some of you have it much worse. Maybe even Jenna or Teej, I don’t know. They don’t... tell me much.” 

_(you haven’t even texted them once since..._ _)_

Chase shook his head and asked: 

“What... Does something happen at nights here?” 

“I... told you. Thuds. Noises...” 

“No, but... do you _see_ things?” 

“I don’t think so... But I’ve started getting used to it. And then Dax texts me and says y’all are coming... and I remembered everything. That... thing, the lake, the train. One big nightmare, except it actually happened.” 

Since the moment Carl had mentioned the creature, Flynn was squeezing the blanket in his fingers and looking right at the ram. Chase thought that he should ask him later if he’s okay. 

“And now you’re here as well, Chase. I hope, no more surprises? Let’s leave Leo... Jenna and Teej outta this, okay? I already have a bad enough feeling now that _we_ are here,” continued Carl, his arms were still shaking. 

Dax was stroking one of them, not saying a word. 

“They’re not here, Carl. We’ve run out of surprises, sorry,” smiled the otter. 

“I’m glad _you’re_ here, man. You can’t even imagine how much,” responded his friend with a serious tone. 

“Carl, leave this town,” suddenly said Flynn, looking right at the ram. 

He looked back at the lizard for a few seconds, but when the latter didn’t add anything else, he smiled and said: 

“I’m sorry for whining my ass off in front of y’all. But yes, I forgot to tell you some good news for a change. I’m going to a summer school soon and then I’m actually going to a full-blown college. I hope I’ll be a better artist than a gamer.” 

“Carl, that’s... fantastic news!” exclaimed Chase. 

“It’s more of a... “running away from the town” situation, but I assume it wouldn’t hurt to have an education,” he smiled. 

“You parents were always against you having an art degree, were they not?” asked Dax. 

“Well, yeah, but after... all that shit they weren’t protesting that much when I told them.” 

Flynn was smiling, but it was obvious that something was bothering him. Chase threw a questioning look at him, but the lizard turned away. 

The next few hours were indeed relaxing. After multiple mini-tournaments they had in one of Carl’s co-op games (Flynn was unvaryingly dead last), the ram and the salamander went downstairs. The former wanted to show them something on his TV, but he needed time to find the file. 

Using the free minute, Chase went on a spacious balcony in Carl’s parents’ room. The sun wasn’t as aggressive anymore and heat wasn’t killing the otter. From here he could see the rest of the town a ways ahead, and what he saw made him shiver. Boarded up windows of the lifeless, yellow and weather-worn motel and the diner told a very colourful story of something horrible that had happened here, something that will never bring this place back. Echo was dead. The Hendricks were the only ones who were holding onto it. Maybe also Leo, but Chase wasn’t sure. 

The door behind him slid to the side and Flynn joined him. After briefly looking at Chase he stood next to him and leaned on the railing looking ahead, towards the town. 

“That’s quite a view,” he uttered. 

“Yeah,” quietly responded Chase, not looking at him. 

“If it weren’t for Carl, I... I would never come back here.” 

He made a pause and then barked: 

“I have no clue why _you_ are here. Don’t feed me bullshit about your fucking project, okay? It’s definitely not that.” 

Chase’s mouth was slightly open. He didn’t know how to say what he wanted to say... so he just decided to say it like it was. 

“I’m trying to fix my life. If there is a place that ruined everything for me... for us... it’s here. This fucking town, Flynn. It twisted us all into something we’re not.” 

The lizard said nothing, his hands were still tightly gripping the railing. He was looking right into Chase’s eyes. 

“And... I wanted to apologize, Flynn.” 

“What... for?” cautiously asked the gila. 

“Well, at least for everything I said about you in the town hall. I had no right to.” 

“Hadn’t you said all that before that shit left your body or something?” asked a perplexed Flynn, “It wasn’t you who said all that, right? Not _really_ you?” 

“I guess so,” admitted the otter, “But... only now I realize how strange I really felt all these years. It’s like all my life decisions were made by someone else. I didn’t belong to me, I supported whatever that second one, who lived inside of me, wanted. So... did _I_ _want_ to say all that shit? Did _I_ _want_ everyone to abandon you right then and there? Flynn, I just don’t know anymore.” 

“You know, Chase, in fact, I don’t give a flying fuck whether you wanted to or not. It happened, and now things are the way they are. We’re good. Besides, believe me or not, I’ve heard things much worse than that about myself,” said the lizard, and Chase opened his eyes wide. 

“Don’t shit yourself from happiness, muskshit,” rolled his eyes Flynn, noticing his reaction. 

“And... one more thing,” said the otter, “I won’t make any excuses that I was a kid...” 

“Shut up, Chase. Not that and not right now.” 

“When, Flynn? _When?!_ ” almost screamed the otter. 

“Give me time.” 

“You wanted the truth, right?” 

“And I’m sure I know it.” 

“But...” 

“Shut up.” 

They were standing on the balcony and kept looking towards the hateful town when Chase asked another question he was curious about. 

“Do you still go to... “the smoke room”?” 

Flynn chuckled gloomily and replied: 

“No.” 

“Oh.” 

“Sorry if you were planning on inviting me to go there.” 

“Piss off.” 

They both smiled awkwardly remembering their conjoint visit to that place. 

_(Ryan is a friend that’s not going away in a couple of days, so yes, right now he is the “friend”)_

“Aren’t you... lonely?” asked Chase as he remembered Flynn saying this to him in March. 

The gila looked at him, slightly opened his mouth as if trying to say something, but then he closed it again. 

“Let’s go downstairs. The fatso wanted to show us somethin’.” 

He quickly went back into the room and then into the hallway, not looking back. Chase knocked on the railing with the knuckles of his fingers a couple of times and joined him. 

Carl’s surprise was videos from their childhood. Those times when his parents recorded them during their birthday parties or when they allowed him to take a camcorder with him on their walks – almost all of it was miraculously saved in the Hendricks’ archives. 

No matter how much misery this town had brought them, in those videos they looked... happy. A rush of cheerful memories suddenly went to Chase’s head and he realized that his eyes were tearing up. He tried to wipe them with a sleeve of his shirt as inconspicuously as possible, theatrically scratching his chin and the goatee, but no way in hell it was convincing enough. 

“You look... really cute, guys,” smiled Dax looking at the screen. 

“Too bad you aren’t there as well,” winked Carl. 

“Well... the night is still young,” laughed the salamander. 

“Still young,” thoughtfully uttered Flynn, looking at twelve-years-ago himself on the TV. His spine ridge was bright pink back then and not as “lush” as it was now. 

It didn’t happen very often, but each time Sydney was on screen, the living room became absolutely quiet. The night definitely wasn’t young for him, and nothing mattered for him anymore. There was no way to bring him back. Echo’s 

_(your)_

biggest victim. 

When night fell upon the town, the pizzas were devoured and the videos – finished, the friends went to sleep. The ram talked everyone into staying in his room, so happy Dax fell into the beanbag, almost drowning in it, and Carl, Chase and Flynn lay into the ram’s massive bed. If desired, there was room even for Dax as well, but the salamander clearly wasn’t going to leave his exclusive bedding. 

Carl turned on his side and started snoring pretty quickly (of course, not missing a golden opportunity to let out a couple of gay jokes before that). Chase was left lying in the middle, looking at the ceiling. He knew that the lizard was awake too. 

“Do you see them, Chase?” asked Flynn quietly. 

“See who?” replied the otter. 

“You know who.” 

“Almost every night. Sometimes I’m really jealous of your ability not to dream.” 

“I see nightmares all the time, Chase.” 

“You... do?” 

“Sometimes I see myself on fire. Sometimes – as if I’m following someone in the mines. Sometimes I am the one pushing the van into the lake and I hate myself sitting in the front seat. In other nights I sorta watch you all, but I am not even me. And sometimes... you drown me in the lake, Chase.” 

The otter was lying without movement, having no clue how to respond to all that. 

“I hate falling asleep. I’m fucking tired of feeling like I’m... some monster.” 

“You are not a monster, Flynn.” 

“I’m tired of all this, muskshit. If you have any idea how to fix this... please, tell me.” 

Instead of answering, Chase slowly nested his hand inside the lizard’s and gently squeezed. He snapped his eyes shut with fear, awaiting his friend to push him away. 

Flynn never did. 


	9. HEALING

_“You think you can get rid of me?”_ whispered Sydney mockingly. 

Chase couldn’t move a muscle. He hadn’t had real sleep paralyses in quite a while, but now his arms, legs or even head were not under his control. It didn’t feel like a nightmare. He was still in Carl’s room, he heard the ram snore perfectly well, he felt the heat coming from Flynn’s back and tail that Chase was touching with his elbow and a thigh respectively. All he could do is look around frantically besides the ceiling illuminated by nightly blue colours from the window. 

He felt as if something was applying pressure on the bed as if someone was on top of him. Next thing he saw was the head of the dead otter that slid from below right above him, looking into his eyes. The cheeks and one eye had been devoured by fish long ago; its skin was bloated leaving no space for the fur, the last locks of which were still here and there on its decaying face. It was an adult. Not a child whose life he’d taken a decade ago. Chase knew it was Sydney in front of him. 

_“Do you like what you see right now, Chasie?”_

_(leave me...)_

_“I cannot “leave” you, Chase. Nor will I let it happen. Nor will YOU,” - continued the whisper of the creature, even though its jaws never opened once._

_(please...)_

_“Don’t worry. Not much time left. Not much at all.”_

_(leave...)_

_“It will be over soon. And you deserve all of it.”_

_(you are not Syd...)_

_“Does it matter? It’s of no importance, Chase... Especially not for him.”_

_(for whom?)_

_“The lizard. He will kill you and you know it...”_

_(no...)_

_“He knows what you did and he will strangle you. Destroy you. DEVOUR YOU.”_

Above Sydney’s head there was something else now. A red face. Bottomless pitch-black eyes. Sharp-clawed hands clinging to the ceiling. 

_(please, no...)_

_“We will be with you. Until the very end.”_

Chase tightly shut his eyes trying to escape this hell, begging Flynn, Carl, his mom... _anyone_ to help him inside his head. The pressure to both sides of him seemed to disappear. He felt that he was able to move his fingers and toes, with difficulty at first and then more and more freely. The otter took his chances and opened his heavy eyelids. The voices were gone and so were the abhorrent figures above him. The only sounds in the room were Carl’s snoring and the steady breathing of Flynn. Chase pressed his paws to his face and started shaking with voiceless sobs. Well, at least, he wouldn’t have to fall asleep that night again. 

Sunshine started pouring into the bedroom a lot quicker than he expected. Perhaps, no more than two hours had passed since the unpleasant awakening, but he wasn’t sure. Too many thoughts rushed through his brain, and time always flew by for him every time it happened. He was patiently waiting for the full sunrise now and he wasn’t going to put this moment off. It was the day he would free himself... or die. 

The otter knew the the gila always woke up early, so he was just patiently waiting, lying on his back, expecting the first signs of life on his left. Indeed, Flynn stretched his whole impressive body length soon enough, releasing his heavy tail from under Chase’s thigh and turned on his side, facing the otter. His emerald-green eyes were still bleary, but he was still looking at Chase quite intently. 

“Hey,” quietly said the otter. 

“Mhm,” replied Flynn.   
“Slept well?” 

“Fine. My tail’s kinda numb, but it’s okay.” 

“Sorry for the tail.” 

“Forget it.” 

They were silent for some time and then Chase turned his head looking the lizard right into the eyes. 

“I, maybe, know how to make things better. For both of us.” 

“How?” asked Flynn still staring right into the otter’s yellow eyes. 

“Let’s go,” he answered and awkwardly slid onto the floor pushing his body with his arms. 

It was already quite hot outside but there was also light breeze so Chase knew he wouldn’t suffer too much. Especially considering that he hadn’t showered for almost the entire day. He climbed into Flynn’s truck and waited until the gila sat behind the wheel. 

“Where are we going?” inquired Flynn. 

“To the lake,” bluntly replied Chase. 

After a small pause where the lizard was just looking at his friend with wide eyes, Flynn finally managed to ask a legitimate question: 

“Are you fucking joking right now?” 

“I’m in no mood for jokes, trust me.” 

“Why there?” his hands were gripping the wheel too hard and it was obvious. 

“I won’t dare to tell lies there,” shrugged the otter. 

Flynn wanted to ask something else but shook his head and started up his car. On the way to their destination, they didn’t say a word. Chase tried not to think of what could happen there, instead focusing on the details of houses and roads around him he’d never paid enough attention to before, trying to distract himself. Although, soon he saw Leo’s house again and it only made him feel worse. The otter pushed back on his seat and closed his eyes. 

After some time, Flynn turned right into the clearing that immediately descended to the shore. It was the very same clearing where the lizard had gone ballistic on all of them a few months back, trying to find out the truth. Well, his wish was about to come true. 

Chase went to the shore and sat on the warm sand. Flynn sat right next to him. They were both looking at the restless lake surface. The wind was stronger here, so he squirmed a little. 

“It’s... so weird being here again,” he finally said when he couldn’t bear the silence any longer. 

“So... you want me... to ask you questions about what had happened?” asked the lizard, slowly dipping his long fingers into the sand. 

“Not necessarily. You can just... listen to me.” 

Flynn did not say anything so Chase started speaking. 

“I remember that morning now. Even the weather was similar, albeit it was autumn. We enjoyed skimming stones back then, if you remember. You and Leo had mastered that stuff and I could never understand how to hold my wrist. I think... I got bored and decided to swim. You... Leo, you, Carl and Jenna were not far from here and I headed to the shallows. I thought I had to come across Teej or Syd there. And so, I did.” 

The lizard was just looking at the otter; his breathing was heavy. 

“Sydney was sitting on TJ’s back. Toby could not breathe. The waves were splashing into his face. The look on Sydney’s face was probably the reason I flew off the handle. He... he was enjoying that. It’s like all those times he made TJ’s life hell for the past few months. All those mud gobs filled with rocks he’d thrown into his head. Their wrestling where he was just humiliating Toby or straight-up not letting him breathe, his constant threats. At least, during all that some of us were close, because we could help, drag them apart or something. That time at the lake... it was different. No one was there to help and it terrified me. Toby could die there. The death of Syd’s father completely changed him.” 

Flynn slowly stood up and walked towards the water, now standing with his back turned to the otter. 

“I kicked Syd off Toby’s back,” continued Chase, “I had tried to “teach him a lesson” before, trying to make him stop harassing TJ. Like, I remember how I’d beaten him up in the trainyard. Nothing helped, he bullied Teej more and more often and it got worse. I asked him in the water why he was doing it. He never responded. He was just looking at me as if I’d caught him doing something... as if he was a fly, just caught by a spider. I hit him. Then I pulled his head underwater to show him what it was like. What he was doing to Toby. When I let him go, he immediately started shouting that I had tried to murder him. That he would tell Leo everything.” 

Here he hid his head in his paws, not being able to restrain his tears anymore. 

“This must have been the moment I completely lost my shit. We were all sure that he was the one who’d killed his father, and the mere thought that he dared to accuse _me_ of murder...” 

“And then you killed him?” asked Flynn still not looking at the otter. 

“And then I... drowned him. I don’t know how much of that was my deed and not _someone else’s_ but... yes. I was the one who did it.” 

Neither one of them had said a word for some time. Chase, still holding his head in his hands, was afraid to even move. 

“TJ told us he’d seen that... _creature,”_ suddenly spluttered the lizard, “When you and Sydney were underwater, he saw it on the surface. So, I’m asking you again, Chase. Were _you_ the one who drowned him?” 

The otter was looking at the sand under his feet. He had no clue what to say. 

_(“I’m GLAD_ _Sydney_ _died”)_

“I do not know, Flynn. I would give everything to know for sure who drowned Sydney – me or...” 

He stopped. He didn’t really want to involve any “monsters” in this conversation. It’s not what his friend wanted to hear and it also wasn’t what Chase should have been saying at that moment. 

“Flynn... no one else is guilty of what happened. Please, don’t take it out on anyone else. I was with Syd in his last moments, so... it was me.” 

The lizard was quiet. He was also looking at his feet for some time and then he approached his friend. The otter slowly looked up at him, having no idea what to expect. Flynn suddenly sat on the sand, crossing his legs, facing him. 

“He’d changed a lot in his last half a year. Carl told me about that. You told me about that. They all hated him, especially Jenna. And you as well, it seems. You know what’d happened to him, right?” 

“His father...”   
“Yes, his father had died. I assume, to fucking hell with the secrets now. He came to me when it’d happened and I buried his father in the forest.” 

“You... what?” gasped Chase. 

“Syd went hunting with him that morning. He wasn’t doing that great and his daddy started preaching at him, you know what it was like with his fucking Mormon family. That was the day Syd dared to respond to all the insults for the first time. He told him how much he hated him and his whole family. How Syd meant nothing to them. And he ran away into the forest. A few hours later he decided to look for his daddy after all, but his daddy had gone completely nuts at that point. He held his rifle to his chin and Syd tried to stop him. He told me he’d yanked it away trying to stop his father... and that was the moment it shot. Maybe he indeed killed him, but he surely didn’t mean it to happen.” 

Here he made a pause before continuing. 

“After that... he found me. I wasn’t too far from the forest, doing my own shit. He told me what had happened. He took me to that place and that’s where I saw a body for the first time in my life. Well, almost for the first time.” 

Chase squirmed. 

“I’ve never seen so much blood as I did that day. I also hope to never see it again. I dug a grave with my own hands. His father was looking at me with his dead eyes while I was covering him with earth and I have no idea how to ever get that look outta my head.” 

“You’ve never... told it to anyone? All these years?” whispered the otter. 

“No. You’re having an exclusive interview right now, congratulations,” dryly replied Flynn, “But I hope that now you understand why I’ve been so... obsessed with all this. A lot of things connected me with Syd, even that crazy fucked-up evening in the forest. He thought of me as his elder brother, because his own didn’t give a shit about him,” his gaze was full of hatred but he wasn’t looking at Chase. He was looking the way they’d come from. 

“I’m so sorry, Flynn...” whispered the otter, even quieter this time. 

“Tell me one more thing, Chase,” said the lizard with a high voice, which cut through only when he was nervous. He looked into the otter’s eyes, “When you came back to Echo. In March. We spent almost the entire week together. We talked so much. We even _fucked_ , for God’s sake. Tell me... did it mean anything to you? Was I with _YOU_ ? Do you know at least _THAT_?” 

Chase absolutely knew the answer. 

“Yes, Flynn. Maybe I did not remember my past... but it was _me_ who was with you. I wasn’t using you. Everything that happened between us... I wanted it.” 

The lizard was looking at him, not saying anything, and Chase decided to add: 

“Well, except for “the smoke room”. That shit was fucked-up.” 

Flynn chuckled in surprise stopping himself very quickly though. He clearly did not expect any jokes. 

“I... I want...” he started hesitatingly and cut himself short. Something drew his attention behind them and he turned his head that direction. His face expressed nothing but dread. Chase also turned around but he didn’t see a monster. It was worse. 

Leo was walking towards them, and in one of his hands he was holding a gun. His muzzle was twisted into pure fury. His dirty fur was bristled up. The lizard and the otter jumped on their feet. 

“CHASE!” roared the wolf, “What are you doing here?!” 

Not waiting for the response, he gazed at Flynn, unsteadily continuing to approach them. The barrel of his gun wasn’t aimed at them yet, but the wolf had already lifted the weapon up a little. 

“You... you blotchy bastard... the fuck are you doing, pendejo? You... you lured him here, you took him... He isn’t guilty of anything and you... YOU!” 

Chase jumped. The last word was directed at him. 

“Why are you allowing him to do this to you?!” 

“Leo, I wanted to come here, he didn’t do anything...” Chase desperately squealed, his eyes locked on the gun. 

“Lies. He... he always hated you and me... He doesn’t give a shit about anything, except Syd’s death,” hissed the wolf. 

“Fuck you, Leo,” whispered Flynn, his muzzle was of pure shock. 

“It’s not true, Leo, please, take the gun away,” pleaded the otter. 

“Did he... did he want to fuck you again?” gasped the wolf. 

“Wh... No!” shouted Chase, ”We were just talking!” 

“You leave my house like that... just to fuck him?!” barked the wolf. 

“Leave your... What are you talking about?!” screamed Chase. 

“It’s you... it’s all you! You ruin... everything...” gasped Leo, his eyes were glistening with tears. 

He raised his gun, pointing it at Flynn. Chase, not hesitating for a second, jumped in front of it, covering the lizard’s body. His head barely reached the gila’s neck, but he still was able to protect most of his body. 

_“WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LEO?!”_ howled Chase. 

“Psycho...” whispered a shocked Flynn. 

“MOVE, OTTER!” roared the wolf. 

“Leo, I’m begging you, STOP!” 

“It’s gone... way too far... It’s time... to fix everything.” 

“Leo, get a grip on yourself! What are you doing?!” 

He swung his arms backwards, hugging the lizard, covering his body even firmer. He was still facing the wolf. 

“Why are you protecting him, Otter? I’ll just... fix... everything... and we’ll go back. You told me this morning that we were going to have... a great day... together...” 

“Leo, I wasn’t with you this morning...” moaned Chase. 

“What are you blabbering? We’ve been together for two months, chula!”   
“I only got back to Payton yesterday... I was in Pueblo this whole time...” 

“What are you...” groaned the wolf, his arm holding the gun started shaking, “You were at my home when I returned to Payton. You apologized for… what you had told me and we were together again.” 

“No, Leo... I left...” quietly said the otter. 

“You told me yourself you’d broken up,” Flynn said suddenly with a high, shaking voice, “In your car workshop.” 

The wolf’s gaze filled with rage again, as if he’d only remembered now that the lizard was still behind Chase. 

“Otter told me to say this to you. As soon as I saw your cocky smirk after those words I knew, I KNEW I couldn’t trust you...”   
“Jesus Christ, Leo, I didn’t tell you anything! It’s Flynn, what kind of reaction did you expect?!” 

Even in these crazy circumstances, the otter heard the lizard angrily let out a brief puff of air through his nostrils. 

“Leo, I don’t know what’s going on, but you need help, it’s not...” 

“You choose him, yeah?” interrupted the wolf, “Really? This fucker who insulted and hated you all your life, this...” 

“Leo, stop this!” 

The world around them seemed to lose all the colours and the sun hid behind a colossal black cloud which was not there a minute ago. In this silence they all could hear the steps somewhere behind Leo. Then, from over his shoulder, showed up none other than... Chase. It was as if the otter was looking into a mirror, but it became clear quickly that it was not the case. Light seemed to avoid this second Chase, hiding him in a constant shadow. A creepy smile could be discerned on his face and there was no hint of a goatee on his chin. 

_(Leo never liked it...)_

“Leo... what are you doing here?” said the creature with its monotonous voice and Chase remembered the hospital, the little door window... 

The wolf turned around and squealed. He was shooting glances between the two otters but his gun was still pointing at Flynn’s chest and thus, at _real_ Chase’s head. 

_(_ _I’m real, right?)_

“Leo... it’s not me...” gasped Chase. 

“Who is he?” angrily said false Chase. 

“What is going on here?” weakly uttered the wolf. 

“It’s all because of this town... I told you to leave but you didn’t listen,” sadly said the thing. 

_“What the fuck...”_ Flynn whispered, astonished, looking with wide eyes at the scene before him. He seemed completely paralyzed. 

“I... Why are there two of you?” asked the wolf with a stutter. He asked the Chase behind him. 

“It’s all because of this town,” repeated the creature. 

“Leo, _IT’S NOT ME !_ ” shouted the real otter, not knowing what else there was to do. 

The wolf’s ears jerked towards Chase but he didn’t turn. 

“Let’s go home, Leo. It’s all in your head,” said the false Chase. 

“I... I...” the wolf looked completely discombobulated. 

“Leo, you know it’s wrong, please, I’m begging you!” screamed the otter looking at his ex-boyfriend's finger on the trigger. 

“I can’t do this anymore...” uttered Leo. 

“Then kill them and you’ll be free. We’ll go home and we’ll be together like we always wanted...” said the black mouth of the false Chase. 

Leo slowly turned to Chase and Flynn still crammed together like some weird sculpture and pointed the gun at them with two hands. 

_"KILL THEM,"_ echoed the thunderous voice over the lake. 

“LEO, DON’T!” screamed Chase. 

The wolf, whose tears were flowing down his cheeks, shut his eyes tightly, as if getting ready to shoot. It was the otter’s last chance. He screamed the first thing that came to his mind. 

“Leo, do you remember your promise?” 

It seemed to stop him for a second. 

“We were all together at the school gates. We were hugging each other. We were crying. Do you remember that?” 

Raging wind turned the water surface behind them into a massive conglomeration of black snakes and worms, so he had to scream, so that his friend could hear him. So he kept screaming. 

“You promised to protect us! _You_ were the reason we were together all our childhood... _YOU_ got us all together in March... Please, Leo, don’t make the biggest mistake of your life!” all he saw was a blur because of his own tears. 

Leo froze on his spot, his mouth half-open. He didn’t look like himself at all with his filthy fur and wet muzzle. 

“He’s LYING to you, he always LIED and he will be ALWAYS LYING, don’t listen to him. He will abandon you, he will fuck everything that moves, he will only cause you pain. KILL HIM!” hissed the creature that wrapped the wolf into a hug and started petting his head. 

“DON’T TOUCH HIM, YOU FUCKER!” shouted the otter having no clue what he was screaming at. 

At that moment Leo looked at Chase with completely clear eyes. Without saying a word, he exhaled and pressed the barrel of the gun under his chin. For a split second the otter still didn’t realize what was going on and only when Flynn gasped with horror and squeezed his shoulders he darted forward. 

“LEO, DON’T YOU DARE!” 

By some miracle, Leo opened his eyelids, as if wanting to hear the last words from the otter he still loved. Chase froze a few meters away from him. 

“Echo will win if you do this. Don’t let it win, God damn it!” 

The false Chase started grinding itself against the wolf, its empty eyes peered into the other otter. 

“You’re so pathetic. You cannot stop this town, you cannot stop Leo, he will always love me, we will always be toge...” 

The gun banged. 

Chase shut his eyes, listening to the echo rumbling over the lake but dying away with each second. He was afraid to open his eyes. Afraid of what he would see then. And only then he heard a feeble... 

“Otter...” 

...next to him, he opened his eyelids. Leo was looking at him; his gun was pointed at the spot where the false Chase’s head was a few seconds ago. The shadows that creature brought with it were dispersing and the sun showed up in the skies again. The wind also got quiet, so the water surface became smooth. The wolf dropped the weapon. 

“Leo...” gasped the otter and embraced the wolf. 

“I’m... so... sorry...” whispered Leo shaking with sobs, “Flynn... I’m... sorry...” 

The lizard was still almost at the same spot where Chase was protecting him with his body. He was looking at them and his eyes were filled with tears as well. Chase realized that he hadn’t seen him cry since that very day when they got back to school after the lake incident. 

The otter extended one of his arms towards him and the lizard slowly approached them. Leo unceremoniously grabbed his neckband and pulled him into the hug despite the exquisite downpour of profanity the gila brought upon them because of this sharp movement. 

*******

“Flynn, please, take Leo to the hospital,” asked Chase. 

About an hour had passed. The three of them were sitting on the beach and talking. The wolf wasn’t really in that disastrous state they’d seen him in anymore but the otter was still worried about him. Now he was standing next to the water with his back turned to them, fiddling with his anchor bracelet. Chase and Flynn stepped a little off to talk. 

“What about you?” asked the lizard in surprise. 

“I don’t think he really wants me to take care of him right now.” 

“Won’t he... erm...” 

“No, he won’t harm you. I am sure.” 

“What are you going to do then?” inquired the gila. 

Leo’s small victory they witnessed gave Chase an idea. 

“I have some plans. I’m... going to be all right,” promised the otter, having no idea if Flynn cared about that whatsoever. 

“You fuckin’ better,” muttered the lizard and returned to the wolf. 

When the two of them passed Chase on their way to Flynn’s beaten truck, Leo shot a questioning look at him but still followed the lizard and occupied the front seat. The gila looked at Chase before starting the engine and leaving to Payton. The otter would give everything to find out what he was thinking at that moment. 

Now that the truck was out of view and he could hear nothing but occasional splashes of tiny waves, Chase knew for sure what he had to do. Before that, however, he needed to freshen up. The Arizonian heat was taking its toll after all. He took his T-shirt, shorts and boxers off and dove into the lake without any hesitation. Ploughing through the depth he took in every second of relief the water was giving him despite it only having been pain and suffering before. He emerged to the surface about five minutes later feeling even more confident about what he was going to do. He jumped onto the shore, dried himself as much as he could and put on his boxers, taking the shirt and shorts into his paws, planning to put them on later, on his way. 

Unfortunately, he couldn’t head straight to the place he wanted, he needed something from Carl’s house first. So, he was on his way there, slowly walking in the deserted road and thinking about everything that happened and was going to happen in the coming hours. He could win... or he could die. The second option didn’t really scare him that much, he already knew he had won, in a way. It was only about figuring out if Echo was about to win as well. 

“Chase?! Are you all right? Where the hell have you guys gone to?” asked a dumbfounded Carl half an hour later when he saw the otter with dampish fur but fully clothed. 

The ram never got up so early. Dax must have raised the alarm big enough to drag Carl from his sleep.

  
  
_(I need to thank them both properly later for everything)_

“Yes, Carl, it’s all great,” smiled Chase, “I just need to do one thing.” 

“Erm... okay. Do you need help? Where’s Flynn?” he was really confused. 

“He’ll be back soon, he’s just in Payton at the moment. And don’t worry, I’ll do everything myself, but please, tell me, do you have bolt cutters around here?”


	10. SILENCE

Every step on the scorching ground got Chase closer and closer to the small rise where he could see a black passage in a cliff resembling a cartoonishly small mouth of a giant. Under the bright sun that place which knew no light seemed especially creepy. It was a mine, so that much should be expected of it. And yet it felt wrong. If that thing that poisoned this land hundreds of years 

_(_ _millennia?_ _)_

ago had a “home”, it could only be here. Too many of his livid nightmares revolved around this place. Too many unexplainable things he felt every time he came close to the mines. That’s not even mentioning the murder that had happened here a hundred years ago. He wasn’t able to discover any specific names or details when he was digging around in the town hall for his project, but he was sure that murder had a direct and vital bearing upon the state of the city. 

_(You are also a murderer...)_

Clenching his teeth and breathing heavily through his nose, Chase climbed onto the hill and was now standing in front of the passage into the mine, blocked by the iron fence many years back. It was worn out and rusted. On the left side there was a padlock but the otter didn’t have a key to remove the fence the easy way. Instead, he was holding bolt cutters of impressive size Carl brought to him from the basement. The ram was very confused about his behaviour. Chase promised him he’d be back really soon, the moment he’d be finished with his business. He hoped that his lies were at least somewhat believable, as he understood that his chances of leaving the blackness of the mines were pretty minute. It had to be done. Now... or never. 

With that, Chase started confidently cutting through the grate bars. It took him way longer than he expected, since the iron wasn’t cooperating with the cutters too well. After some time, he’d cut through enough grid that it would be enough for him to enter. He pulled on the iron, it gave way, bent with a quiet screech and the otter opened his makeshift “door”. 

Now a long hallway running deep inside the mountain was right in front of him and it felt like something was looking at him from the depths. He was mortified but still not as much as the rest of his life before that. He was about to voluntarily enter the throat of the ancient monster... and he didn’t mind it. 

The otter put down the bolt cutters feeling shame. He hoped someone would eventually figure out where he was and find the tool. Carl’s father must notice its absence sooner or later. Then Chase remembered that the Hendricks could buy thousands of those bolt cutters at any given moment and it made him laugh. The sounds of it flew inside the mine and sank into the echo which died somewhere deep. 

He took his phone out of the shorts pocket and message notifications from Carl and Dax immediately showed up on the screen. Chase decided not to read them – it would be less painful this way. He turned on the flashlight, and it pierced the darkness inside. With a sigh the otter crouched and stepped over the grid. Of course, the mines had been abandoned long before everything else in the town was. The floor was covered with dust, sand and something else. Chase left clear footprints behind after each step. A few dozens of meters later he passed the remains of some wooden structure resembling a cabin with the next turn bringing him into a hall of seemingly natural origins. The roof was very high and light that peered through some holes inside reflected from the stalactites. It made this room quite visible even without the flashlight. It didn’t make the hall any less creepy though – the multitude of bent black shadows from the rocks created the feeling that Chase was being watched over by _something_. It could be in any of those shadows or maybe even at all places at once. 

In the middle of the room the floor turned into a massive pit. It was too dark for him to see the bottom. The light from his phone as well as from the sun apparently almost sank inside, devoured by the nothingness. When Chase looked into the abyss, he heard voices coming from deep below. Something was writhing and whispering in million voices in languages he could not comprehend but he could occasionally make out his name in this cacophony of terror. 

_It_ was there. Now he just needed to find a way to climb down. From some corridors that led away from this hall, one was standing out. The blackness inside seemed especially sticky and Chase had no doubts he had to go there. The narrow passage seemed to engulf not only the light but the sound as well, because any natural sounds finding their way into the previous hall were completely absent here. Apart from the soft sounds of Chase’s feet in the dust dating back decades, there was nothing. His heart was about to leap from his chest and if not for the flashlight in his sweaty paw that showed him that he was at least still alive in this boundless emptiness, he would have simply lost his sanity already. The corridor ran further and further, and the otter started to lose himself in the cobwebs of this stone labyrinth. 

He went around the protruding part of the wall and froze. He was enveloped in the slight gust of wind stinking of rot, musk and stale air coming from the right. Chase turned in that direction and he saw another way forward, hidden so well by that wall he’d gone around a few moments ago. With the smells came something else. A mocking whisper. 

**_“Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeeeeeeeeee...”_ **

The otter’s paws started shaking even more but he still headed inside. He crouched and elbowed his way through the narrowest passage yet, trying not to touch the rocks in front of him which had already started crumbling. Chase ended up in another hall where he could finally stand to his full height. Sunlight reached this room as well but in minuscule amounts, the walls seemed to give off a really weird blue-ish light. It seemed as if the whole place was vibrating with some sort of energy he’d 

_(almost)_

never felt in his life. The most prominent feature of that hall was another pit like before, but this time the walls below him were generously covered with cracks and protruding stones. Here and there, Chase could also see ore veins and jags sticking out from the same walls. He immediately recognized the quartz from his nightmares. 

**_“_ ** **_Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee_ ** **_...”_ **hissed the demanding whisper from the depths of this pit. 

_(well, here I am)_

He shoved his phone into his mouth not caring that he looked stupid. Without light, he would be dead long before he was possibly supposed to in these circumstances. He just regretted not taking any shirts with chest pockets. Carefully placing his feet on the nearest ledge, he started climbing downwards. It was more difficult than he’d expected and he would give everything to have taken a rope. But that miracle never happened, so he had to do it the hard way. He tried not to think about how he would climb back up as he understood that he might not even have to. 

Soon, when there wasn’t any chance of turning back, his toes touched a wide stone which he confidently jumped to. It wasn’t the bottom but Chase was sure there was no need to climb further below. In front of him there was another passage, but this time he had to lie down to climb inside, even considering his body size. He lay on the dirty floor and started pushing himself forward on his elbows trying not to breathe in swarms of dust. Suddenly, the otter felt the emptiness underneath him, fell into a hole. He rolled a couple of times with a yelp; his phone slid to the side. Chase lifted his back off the floor with a wince and looked around. He had fallen into a corridor which continued with a dip and the stench he’d smelled earlier, though it was a lot stronger here. Chase’s phone was lying not far from him. The screen was cracked, but thankfully, the flashlight was still working. 

He stood on his feet and headed towards the dip knowing that he’s almost there now. Too close. He slid down on his shorts and looked around the “room” he ended up in. It was a stone hall once being clearly occupied with miners but now it was completely empty. He could make out a rusty pickaxe and a shovel leaning on one of the walls, some bags covered with spider webs near a rear wall. He even thought that something like a coin flashed near one of the walls but he had no time to explore further. 

The stench of rot and death enveloping this room became a lot stronger. Chase realized that the thing he was looking for came to him. He turned left illuminating the cave in front of him and froze on the spot. It was standing at the far end of the hall. The tall dirty-scarlet creature was almost shining in the dark. The thin disproportional face was looking at the otter with its abyssal black eyes, and its lipless mouth of the same colour was open ajar. The skin folds under its eyes were the only thing that made the looks of the thing somewhat different from what you’d get if you asked a toddler to draw a human face. It was nightmare given flesh. _It was real_ _._

The creature made its first step towards Chase and it seemed like somethingwas restraining it. Still, it was able to overcome these invisible barriers and keep walking towards him, flailing its abnormally long arms and keeping its eyes glued to the otter. Rage was flowing from the creature and Chase could almost feel it physically. 

From the layers of dirt on the floor, not far from the otter’s feet, suddenly rose a head and looked right at Chase. He knew this head from his nightmares as well. 

**_“Chase,”_ ** hissed Sydney. 

“It’s time... time to get this over with, Syd,” uttered Chase speaking to the head but having no strength to remove his gaze from the beast that was walking towards him. No more than thirty steps separated them from each other. 

**_"You knew this day was coming,”_ ** continued hissing the head, **_“And you won’t run any longer. You always come back, always come back, no matter how much you try to run...”_ **

“I know what happened at the lake!” shouted Chase. 

The creature seemed to trip on some rock. The whispers and screams, that were present in the air, but as if somewhere else, became louder. After a jerk the beast continued walking. 

“I know what happened. I... I killed Sydney. He went too far... and I drowned him.” 

The scarlet creature tripped again, having troubles with another barrier on its way. 

“I... I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, _I didn’t._..” 

It jolted forward again with the obstacle defeated. 

“My friends... they didn’t know and now they do. I told them everything, _everything_...” continued howling Chase. 

**_“You didn’t tell everyone,_** ** _muskshit_** ** _...”_ ** croaked the dead head. 

“I told Flynn. Flynn, of all people, he knows the truth!” shouted the otter. 

The creature froze about ten steps away from him with its outstretched hands. 

**_“It won’t save you... This town needs secrets, Chase, and you trusted a wrong person with yours, oh how wrong... He hates you for what you did, he hates you...”_ **

The claws on the beast’s long fingers were almost touching his face. From the cracks inside the walls, other arms, blackened and ghostly, stretched towards the otter as well. They dropped him to the floor and pinned him, not allowing him to move. 

“I’M SORRY, SYD!” yelped Chase. 

**_“SYDNEY ISN’T HERE ANYMORE, YOU CUNTY PIECE OF SHIT!!!”_ **roared the head. It exploded into hundreds of tarantulas which started climbing on the walls and roof of the cave. 

The beast’s claws sank into the otter’s neck and started tearing apart his body, completely destroying the T-shirt and shorts in the process. Blood was flowing from his wounds onto the dirty floor of the mine with some splatters ending up on the walls. He tried to defend himself, but he couldn’t do much. So, he knew 

_(he deserved it)_

it was the end. _The_ end. He could only scream, as his yelps became quieter and quieter with each passing moment. As he saw the creature aiming for his throat, he closed his eyes and prepared for death. For death which was about to be granted to him by the town he despised so much. 

Suddenly, the screams in the air around him changed. They turned from the moans of pain and celebration into the howls of surprise and fury. Chase opened his heavy eyelids and saw that the creature wasn’t looking at him anymore. It was looking somewhere behind the otter’s back. 

“GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU BITCH!!!” echoed someone’s raging roar through the cave. 

The creature got thrown backwards. Screeches filling the air became panicky, interrupting each other. The scarlet creature quickly turned back to Chase and tried jumping forward to finish what it had started, when... 

“STAY PUT, FUCKER!” shouted Flynn and stood in front of the otter looking at the beast. 

The creature flew back again as if thrown by some invisible force. The lizard, shaking with fury, started walking towards it. Spiders, frantically climbing the walls started dropping dead.   
“F... Flynn...” whispered a bleeding Chase. 

The lizard didn’t hear him. The cave was filled with howls of fear, dying tarantulas and yet the gila kept approaching the creature that was fruitlessly trying to stand on its abnormally long legs. 

“I’ve had enough,” hissed Flynn looking at the demon he knew too well. 

**_“WHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!”_ **seemingly screeched from every single crack in the walls of these mines. 

“You will never touch Chase again!” screamed the lizard and kicked the beast with full force into its leg. It broke apart and disappeared in the air.   
“You will never touch me again!” continued Flynn, destroying the creature’s shoulder and arm with the next attack. 

“And you will NEVER touch ANY of my friends!” shrilled the lizard and brought down his fists into the beast’s chest. 

It started convulsing under his feet, as if trying to suck itself right through the floor. The desperate howl of Sydney echoed through the cave, but as if distorted by a broken recording device: 

**“HEEEEEEE KIIIIIILLEDDD YOUUUUUUUR BEEEEEEST FRIEEEEEEEEEND!!!”**

Flynn looked into the eyes of the beast which was staring at him with pure hatred. He let some air through his nostrils and said quietly, but loudly enough that all walls in this room would hear him: 

_“And I forgive him.”_

A deafening screech of anger came down upon them. Anger which turned into desperation, pain... and a yelp of complete helplessness. The creature under Flynn disappeared into the dirty floor. The last spider fell from the wall and curled its legs. The screams turned into echoes and then even that fell completely silent. 

Chase looked at the scene, as life kept flowing from his body in red streams. Flynn came to his senses, stood up and ran up to the otter. 

“You... showed him... man...” Chase tried to smile, but it brought even more pain. 

“Jesus Christ, why did you go here alone, you fucking idiot...” moaned the lizard. 

He carefully lifted the otter from the floor and now Chase’s head was resting on his scaley, but yet, still soft arm. 

“Leave me... here... You can’t get me... outta... here...” feebly whispered the otter. 

However, Flynn was already running up the slide and further, not stopping next to the wall Chase had fallen through.   
“Where are you...” 

“I know another exit. Shut up and rest, for God’s sake,” said the gila with heavy breath. 

Chase started to drift away. He gripped Flynn’s shirt with one of his paws. The lizard seemed to elbow his way through some rocks with him somehow... He even thought he saw the sun again... but his eyes were already closed. The last thing that ran through his head before he slipped into the darkness was... 

_(he forgave_ _me?.._ _)_

“Chase, if you’re gonna fuckin’ die on me now, I swear I’ll find your fuckin’ camera and ram it right up...” he also heard the desperate moan of the lizard. 

And then came rest, and the otter dove into the depths of the endless black lake, enjoying every second of it and thinking about absolutely nothing. 

*******

He heard voices. At first, he was scared, thinking that the monsters had found him in here too, but these voices didn’t cause him any pain. Maybe, they were from his past. Or present? They were inquiring about his well-being and he wanted to reply but he couldn’t. It made him very sad. He didn’t know what was happening to him, he didn’t know where he was. All he knew was complete nothingness around him and the lake under his feet. After some time though, he started realizing that the blackness wasn’t threatening at all, as if it was... artificial. And the lake wasn’t the lake at all. It was tears that started unwillingly to flow from under his eyes. So, he tried to open them. 

The light immediately blinded him and he shut them back again, trying to adjust. The second time wasn’t as painful and it didn’t take him that long to determine that he was in the hospital. He was alive. 

He looked down his body, as much as his numb neck muscles allowed him to. His arms and legs were bandaged and an IV bag was plugged into his left arm. There was a chair next to his bed, as if someone was sitting next to him not that long ago, though now it was empty. Behind the little door window, he saw the hospital staff and patients walking back and forth. One of the heads lingered behind the glass, and Chase recognized the dark-gray skin with orange patterns and a purple spine ridge starting on top of the head. 

Flynn opened the door, holding a can of soda in his hand. As soon as he saw the otter was awake, he ran up to him, placed the can on the nightstand and fell on the chair like a bag of bricks. He grasped Chase’s right paw with his warm hands, and the otter realized how cold he was all this time. 

“How are you?” gasped Flynn. 

“Never... better...” croaked Chase and the lizard immediately jumped up to fill a glass of water for him. 

The otter was able to handle only a couple of gulps and it was enough. The lizard was carefully pouring the liquid into his mouth, but little streams managed to find their way onto his chin and neck anyway. 

“Am I... alive?” Chase decided to ask a stupid question, just to make sure. 

“As alive as it gets,” smiled Flynn, “Even though I wasn’t so sure of that while I was driving you to Payton.” 

“How long have I been here?” feebly asked the otter again, whose paw was in the lizard’s again. 

“It’s Saturday morning, so... three and a half days,” counted the lizard. 

“Wow,” answered the otter. 

“Holding up pretty well, muskshit,” smiled Flynn. 

“That might be because you’re here,” replied Chase, also with a smile. 

Something in his look made the otter ask: 

“Wait. Don’t tell me you’ve been here with me for three days.”   
“What if I have?” the lizard raised his eyebrow ridge, “You suggest that I just go to work when you’re in the hospital after all that shit in the mines?” 

“Well, it’s your job, I don’t want you to... especially because of me...” 

“Chase, holy shit, you’re an idiot,” smiled the lizard, shaking his head. 

“What about Carl? And Dax? Are they okay?” Chase asked, remembering his friends. 

“Absolutely. They visited you too, but you were conked out. By the way, the Hendricks’ are paying for your hospital bills,” smirked Flynn. 

“They... _what_?” 

“Carl spoke to his parents and... whatever happened, happened. Thank them later,” Flynn continued smiling. 

“What did you say to the doctors? How did you explain... all this?” asked Chase pointing at his bandages. 

“A wild animal.” 

“A wild animal?” 

“Yes, what’s wrong? It happens. Plus, there are a shitton of urban legends about this place, maybe you’ll even be a star of one now,” winked Flynn. 

“Incredible,” responded Chase with a touch of humour, dropping his head on the pillow. 

He couldn’t ignore the lizard for long though with his paw still inside Flynn’s hands. The otter tilted his head sideways to look at his friend and asked the first thing that came to his head: 

“Are you all right?” 

“Me? Yes. If I’m gonna be completely honest... haven’t felt better in ten years or so,” quietly replied Flynn. 

After another pause Chase asked him the only question that made sense now. 

“Why did you forgive me, Flynn?” 

The lizard looked into his eyes, then stood up and walked to the window. He crossed his arms staring somewhere outside. Then he started talking. 

“Back then I told y’all I just wanted truth. That wasn’t it. I was obsessed with the idea of figuring out what’d happened. Rage was all I knew. I even told you I didn’t see any nightmares or any dreams to begin with. That... was not me.” 

He turned back to Chase. 

“I know I might not be the most pleasant person to be around, but all that shit was too much, even for me. Now we all know what Echo is really like. We know what’s under it. I’m fuckin’ done, Chase. I don’t blame _you_. I blame this town. For taking my life away. My childhood. My friends... my best friend.” 

He exhaled and returned to the chair. 

“And for taking your life.” 

Chase wanted to say so much, but he had no idea what to start with. So, he was just lying there, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. 

“You need to forgive yourself, too.” added the lizard, looking at him with his emerald eyes. 

The endless train of thought stopped for a second... and Chase said the only thing that seemed right at that moment. 

“Let’s leave.” 

“Wh... what do you mean, _"leave”"_?” he was clearly taken aback. 

“I mean, leave. Payton. Forever.” 

“With you?” 

“Yes.” 

Chase expected anything, maybe a look of disgust on the lizard’s face or some snarky joke, but he just asked: 

“What am I gonna do in Colorado?” 

“We... can think about it. I heard there’s a nice culinary school at Pueblo Community College...” 

“A culinary school.” 

“Well, yeah...” 

“I can already cook, you little shit, and you know it,” the lizard was almost offended. 

“It’s never too late to get even better,” winked the otter. 

The lizard slowly shook his head and replied with a barely noticeable smile on his muzzle: 

“I cannot fuckin’ believe I’m starting to dig that idea.” 

The door swung open and the hare nurse entered the room. She clasped her hands and exclaimed: 

“Awake! Mister Moore, I apologize, but you will have to leave for now... for once. The patient needs complete rest.” 

She crossed her arms even though the smile on her face was obvious. 

“Sorry, ma’am, I was just about to leave.” 

He stood up again, looked at Chase and said: 

“See ya tomorrow.” 

“See you tomorrow, Flynn.” 

And with that, he exited the room. 

“You know, I actually remember you two. Mister Hunter, it seems like your friend is trying to compensate for his previous unsuccessful visit,” shook her head the hare. 

“Seems like he is,” smiled Chase. 


	11. ANCHOR

The next few days flew by. Flynn visited him, like clockwork, around midday and they would spend the next few hours just talking about different things. Chase had never realized before how easy it actually was to speak to him, especially now when the burden on their souls became much, much lighter. 

As for the details about the days Chase was unconscious, Flynn happily elaborated on those as well. The otter’s parents knew that he was in the hospital but couldn’t get to Payton because of some work complications. The lizard had talked to them for more than an hour assuring them that he was looking after Chase. Flynn assured them that Chase’s condition had become stable and he was recovering, which helped to convince them. 

The otter also wondered how the gila was able to find him in the mines at all. Flynn told him that after he’d taken Leo to the hospital he immediately rushed back to Echo. “Felt it in his fuckin’ gut” as he put it. When he got to Carl’s house the ram told him that Chase had left and had taken the bolt cutters with him. Flynn realized at once where the otter was headed and drove to the mines with the full power of his good old truck. Following his footprints in the mines, it was made clear what part of mines he was going into, so he rushed to the different entrance to that part he was aware of, and the rest was history. 

Leo didn’t spend much time in the hospital as he didn’t have any physical injuries and Dax, who also visited Chase, told him that he’d come across the wolf in the streets and he looked healthy and seemingly in good spirits. 

Flynn had quit his supermarket job and told Chase about it like it was nothing. It seems like he really didn’t care about it. The salamander wasn’t as happy though and reminded him about the rent, but the lizard replied with a smile that everything was under control. No one knew what this “everything” was. 

On Monday Chase was dismissed from the hospital after long entreaties on the otter’s part. His lacerations were healed. He had a lot more scars now than before, but they were not a threat to his life, so he didn’t mind. 

Despite Flynn’s demands (varying in politeness) that he should stay at home and have some decent rest, Chase insisted on visiting Carl again. Dax was excited about the idea more than the otter was, but the salamander made them promise that they would return to Payton in the evening this time around. After a shower that definitely woke the otter up from the hospital slumber and thirty-forty minutes on the road they arrived at Carl’s who, of course, was already expecting them. 

Chase felt much better now when compared to the hospital, the mines or even the events before that and still, it didn’t feel like he had defeated his demons like Leo or Flynn did. He didn’t see a single nightmare in these few days, but he still felt Sydney’s presence. Invisible. Impalpable. But he was still there. 

However, the otter didn’t really feel him while at the Hendricks’ house. The whole day they talked, discussed what had happened and what was about to happen (when Chase and Flynn also revealed they were going to leave Payton), but mostly they ate junk food till they were full, played some shooters and racing games, joked a ton and for the first time in a very long time, Chase felt that this town had no power over him. He could only imagine what it felt like for Flynn. 

The relationship between the two became as open as never before in these last few days. Of course, the lizard still never missed a chance to give him some biting remark, but now even that felt different. Flynn seemed to be smiling more and more, but it wasn’t his typical disdainful smirk, but... a genuine smile. It seems like he was actually happy. 

When evening came, the atmosphere in the Hendricks’ mansion got a lot more somber. Everyone understood that after the farewell they weren’t going to see each other for a really long time. The moment the sun dipped below the horizon, Carl was the first to break. Sitting on his giant sofa in the living room, he hid his muzzle in his paws and started sobbing, shaking his shoulders. Chase hugged him from one side, Dax – from the other. Flynn came around the sofa and put his arms around all three of them, placing his chin on top of the ram’s beanie in the middle. Everyone was crying, even the salamander who Carl had met only a few months ago. On the other hand, Dax was the one who helped Carl more than anyone else in these few months. Flynn, sobbing, was holding him tight, as he didn’t want to let go of his _other_ best friend. Chase who felt and appreciated in that moment the unity they shared, decided for himself that he would never lose these people, no matter where his way would lead him – to Pueblo, Payton, the other side of this world... damn, even to Adastra from the TV shows Dax was so fond of. The distance didn’t matter. They were connected through so much more than their location on the map. Jenna and TJ weren’t with them now, but Chase felt as if they were right next to them. “Echo’s misfits” were always together. No matter where they were individually. 

*******

When the three of them safely got back to Payton, Dax firmly hugged Flynn, then Chase. He headed to his room and smiled at them before closing the door behind him. 

The otter and the lizard were looking at each other, not saying a word. A few moments later Chase headed to the gaudy red sofa in the living room, made his “bed” with the set that was still laying in the corner from before and lay down. 

“Goodnight, Flynn,” quietly said the otter. 

“Goodnight, Chase,” responded the gila. 

The lizard stood in the living room for a few more seconds, as if wanting to say something, but then walked to his room. 

It was a restless night; the events of the last few days and at Carl’s just wouldn’t leave his head. The sofa was terribly uncomfortable which also didn’t help. Tumbling about in his bedsheets, hoping that sleep would come to him, Chase was trying to get rid of all his thoughts including those that were about his new life, starting from tomorrow. Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t. He wasn’t able to bare this torture any longer. The otter sat up, hanging his feet from the sofa and holding his head with his paws. In this silence all sounds were twice as loud, so he heard that he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t sleeping. After the next bed squeak from behind the wall the otter heard a quiet: 

“Chase...” 

The lizard knew he wasn’t sleeping. Listening to his hammering heart, Chase walked to the white door leading into the gila’s room and opened it. He could see almost nothing inside, but against the background of the window was him, standing at the windowsill and pressing his forehead against the glass. 

The otter approached the lizard and put his paw on his shoulder. 

“Flynn... are you okay?” 

The gila turned to him. He placed his warm palms on Chase’s cheeks, and he pulled the otter to him. Their lips pressed together and even if he wanted, Chase wouldn’t be able to say how much he missed this feeling. The two fell onto Flynn’s bed, not letting each other go. Their lips opened and the lizard’s long snake-like tongue wrapped around the otter’s short tongue. When they started kissing each other’s necks and bodies, going down Chase could only compare it to going mad which he had been so afraid of. Except now there was nothing to be afraid of anymore. The otter gave himself fully to one of the closest people in his life and got the same from the lizard in response. Everything else became so immeasurably insignificant. 

*******

When Chase woke up in Flynn’s embrace the lizard was already awake. They were silently looking at each other with smiles on their muzzles. The gila was gently fixing the crumpled fur on his cheek. 

“Do you want to leave today?” suddenly asked Flynn. 

“Just like that? Today?” 

“Just like that,” he replied, slowly brushing the otter’s shoulder and arm fur. 

“Yes. Yes, I do,” said Chase with no hesitation. 

“Then... I think it’s time to get up,” said Flynn, freeing his own arm from under Chase. 

They took turns in taking a shower. While it was the lizard’s turn (and while he was dressing up afterwards – Chase didn’t miss a chance to admire his body in daylight again) the otter finally had a chance to thoroughly look around in the lizard’s room. If he thought that the kitchen, the bathroom or the living room were tasteless and bland, Flynn’s bedroom definitely took the grand prize. The walls were covered in abhorrent beige wallpaper while the furniture was the worst shade of brown imaginable. Obviously, that was the furniture that had been here when Flynn and Dax had started living in this apartment, but the lizard clearly made no attempt of breathing any life into this room. It had... completely no personality. It was empty. A mannequin could be living in here, for all he knew. Feeling another surge of hatred towards Echo, Chase opened half-full boxes in the corner of the bedroom and they started packing the lizard’s belongings. It didn’t take much time at all considering that Flynn didn’t have that many belongings with him in Payton. He explained he’d left a lot of them in now abandoned house back in Echo. Chase assumed those were the things he never wanted to see in his life again. The otter wouldn’t say it to the lizard, but he was incredibly touched that among the things that were delicately placed on the bottom of one of the boxes were pictures (some of them were even framed) depicting them all, at different places and in different times of their lives. Chase recognized the one on the top that had been taken by TJ’s mom. In it, they were running in Carl’s backyard looking for a “treasure” thoroughly hidden by Sydney. 

The older they got, the fewer pictures there were and when the otter turned eighteen there were no more. Chase, Carl and Jenna left Echo for college at that time. But then there was another photo and it was taken in March. The otter wasn’t sure how it ended up with Flynn, but it did. 

Leo with the happiest expression on his muzzle hugging a winking Chase and a smiling Jenna; Carl standing a tiny bit behind, playfully doing his surfer hand gesture; Flynn in the background, still towering over all of them, with not a shadow of a smile on his tilted sideways muzzle, holding a beer can. 

“If only you’d smiled back then, Flynn, it would’ve been the best picture ever taken on this planet,” noticed Chase. 

“Debatable, ‘cause I don’t see a salad with gorgonzola, smoked chicken and walnuts anywhere in this picture,” replied the lizard with a slight sneer, shoving his collection of shirts into a plastic bag while the otter shook his head. 

He briefly looked at this picture again, promising himself that this would not be the last picture of the six of them they’ve ever taken. No way in hell. 

*******

When all the things were packed and the boxes were in the truck’s bed together with Chase’s bag it was the time for another farewell. Dax was in the parking lot with a smile on his face, looking at them. 

“Flynn... Chase... I will never forget you,” he said. 

“I sure hope so, cause I’m not exactly looking forward to you asking for our names again,” replied the lizard raising his eyebrow ridge. 

“You know what I mean,” the salamander rolled his eyes. 

“And you know I’m just joking, you fool,” replied the lizard and wrapped his hands around his housemate and friend. 

When they let each other go, Dax focused on Chase. 

“Don’t even think that we are finished with “Black Spirits-2". 

“I wouldn’t dare to let you down like this,” Chase assured him. 

“I also know that they are making the third one. We can also stream some TV shows. My Internet speed is quite good here, it will work.” 

“It will work, Dax. I know it.” 

“I’ll take you up on that!” winked the salamander and the two of them hugged. 

When they were done, Dax asked Flynn: 

“So... what about the rent? Cause you know, I’m a little worried.” 

“Oh yeah. Forgot to tell ya. Today or tomorrow your new housemate is arriving.” 

“Wh... who?” 

“A guy from the store I worked with. He moved to Payton not long ago, but he couldn’t find a normal apartment. So, I suggested moving with you.” 

“Is he... okay?” 

“Couldn’t hurt a fly if he wanted,” assured the lizard. 

“All right,” smiled the salamander. 

Leaving the parking lot, the lizard and the otter waved at Dax and he returned the gesture with wide grin on his spotted face. Soon they turned around the corner and they couldn’t see Dax any longer. 

“We’ll stop by the supermarket,” said Flynn. 

Chase didn’t mind, he needed to buy a few bottles of water anyway. The cashier was the same badger as before, but this time he was handling himself a lot more confidently – the bottles were scanned immediately. He looked at the truck outside, visible from the sliding door, and said, giving the change to Chase: 

“Have a nice journey!” 

“Thank you, Barry,” replied Flynn, stylishly tossing the house keys to the badger. 

He caught them with a smile. 

Chase left the supermarket and took a big gulp of water. He wanted to see another person before the departure and he was very nervous. 

“What’s wrong, muskshit? You look like you’ve swallowed a knife or something,” Flynn anxiously asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“Can we... stop by the workshop?” asked Chase. 

Flynn tensed up, then shrugged. 

“Yeah. Sure.” 

So they did. In a few minutes, they were on the parking lot in front of a neat building with lots of mechanical sounds coming from within. The otter turned to the lizard and asked: 

“Do you want to come with me?” 

“No, thanks. I’ll be here,” replied the lizard. 

Chase sighed and got out of the car. He headed to the entrance of the repair garage and he immediately recognized the wolf’s back who hadn’t noticed him yet. He called out: 

“Leo!” 

The wolf turned. His face changed into a surprised grin. He came to the otter and hugged him. 

“How are you, chula?” 

“I’m okay. And... you?” 

“Better than... well, _then_. Are you living in Payton now?” 

“I’m actually leaving.” 

“Where to?” 

“Back to Pueblo.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah...” 

“When?” 

“We were already leaving. I just wanted to see you.” 

“We?” 

Chase slightly gestured towards the truck. Flynn was standing next to it, leaning on the bed, looking at them with crossed arms. Leo waved at him, hesitating for a second. The lizard waved back. 

“Thank you for coming by then,” sadly said the wolf. 

He looked at the scars on his arms (and almost his whole body, but that he could and would not see). 

“Oh God, Chase, what...” 

“It’s all good, Leo. I’m free now. We’re all free,” smiled Chase. 

The wolf slowly dragged his finger over one of his scars but quickly jerked the hand away as if he’d burned himself. 

“It’s good. About time, isn’t it?” 

“About time.” 

He looked at Flynn wanting to ask something but closed his mouth. Instead, he only said: 

“Well, I will miss you.” 

“I will miss you too, Leo. We will see each other again.” 

“I’ll be looking forward to it then.” 

“So will I.” 

They hugged and Chase headed back to the truck where Flynn was waiting for him. 

“Take care of him!” said Leo loudly behind him, in a voice that allowed no dissent. 

Chase turned back, but the wolf wasn’t looking at him. He was looking at the gila. Flynn said nothing, only nodding in response. 

“Take care of each other,” added Leo, a lot quieter now, looking at Chase this time around. 

He returned to the workshop and started fiddling with his work vest on a peg, even though the otter was sure he’d only moved and hanged it on the other peg a couple times, hiding his face from him. 

When they were moving from the car shop, Chase turned around again and he saw Leo taking off the bracelet from his arm. A silver anchor, connecting two ends of a thread, glinted in the morning sun, hanging from the wolf’s fingers. 

That anchor... it meant so much for both of them. For Chase it was a reminder of being handcuffed to Echo, doomed to spend the rest of his life in that place. For Leo it was mostly a symbol of their love to each other, except Chase had taken off his own bracelet a long time ago. Now the anchor was heaved. They were both free. 

Chase placed his head at the edge of the non-existent window, hiding his face from Flynn. The lizard accelerated as they entered the roadway. He didn’t say a word, only placing his hand on the otter’s thigh, gently rubbing it a couple times before taking the wheel again. Watching Payton (and by extension Echo) falling further and further behind, the otter took a deep breath and exhaled, enjoying the feeling of the wind drying out the tears on his cheeks. Finally, he managed to break a smile. 


	12. EPILOGUE

_“... The obscure history of this town is full of mysteries, ambiguousness and secrets. The native Meseta tribe avoided this place while the same cannot be said about other people – back then they would do anything to survive. Some of them were signing mining contracts not knowing that they would only experience hunger and desperation. Some could only drink their existence away, hoping that God would bring them a chance for better life one day. Some others had no choice but to earn their living with their bodies to make it through another day._

_The murder that shook up this town a century ago was a significant addition to the whole picture. To this very day, we do not know of the reason that led to it happening. The crime that led to other many deaths like a fall of blood-covered dominoes. The murder that drove the whole town mad. Maybe it was indeed some ancient Evil that poisoned every stone in the desert with its presence. Maybe it was nothing more than an angry mine worker for whom it was the only chance of survival. Maybe it was a complete accident. I’m afraid I haven’t found the answer during my trip there and it seems like no one will anymore._

_In such a chaos-riddled place like Echo, the history repeated itself multiple times. This year the ghost of the past revealed itself again, destroying the decaying town streets, possibly, for good. It was the wrath that came for me personally this time around. Just like in 1915, I was and am connected to Echo with deathly bonds. I caused a lot of pain to people around me and the town would not let me forget about it._

_Evil things we do beget guilt. The guilt gives birth to more wrath and pain. It all leads to a spree of mistakes and other heinous deeds. The guilt will never leave, no matter how much one could persuade themselves that what they did was right or there was no other choice. It will always follow you and remind you that you have no right of moving forward when there are people you have left behind. Is it fair? The question for another day. The only true conclusion that we can walk away with is as follows: do not let your inner demons take full control over you, because there’s no way back when they do. Keep moving forward. Be honest with yourselves. Be responsible for your words and actions. Cherish those who wish to walk this way with you. There’s no point in listening to a distant echo that’s following you when all you need to do is tell your story. This is the story of the miners who were trying to find a crumb of gold inside the local mountains. The story of the Meseta tribe that suffered through multiple challenges and losses. It is my story, no matter how small or insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I can only hope that Sydney Bronson and everyone who made it through that day in March of 2015 can one day forgive me for that spark of chaos that lit the ancient bonfire of that place, waiting to devour Echo in its flame. I don’t want to and I won’t hide the truth. Especially now, when all that’s left of Echo is its silence.”_

*******

**(AND)**

*******

**(SYDNEY)**

*******

**(JUST)**

*******

**(STARED)**

*******

“Buddy, I ordered a salad with tofu for him, not beef.” 

“I’m sorry, sir, there must have been some mistake, I’ll pass it to the chefs...” 

“You better, or you’ll be the one to explain to my jug-eared friend here why he’s not a vegetarian anymore.” 

“Flynn!” 

Jenna, taking a sip from her glass at that very moment, chuckled and almost spilled its contents. The server, a weasel in a spruce suit hurried to the exit of their room putting immense effort into keeping his face expression as deadpan as possible. TJ looked mildly offended, but in a couple seconds his ears flicked again and continued eating his vegetable soup. 

“By the way, why didn’t you jack this thing up in your own restaurant? I heard your staff toes the mark there,” noticed Leo, pushing back in his seat, biting into his quesadilla from time to time. 

Flynn shrugged. 

“I don’t want my own staff to serve me like I’m some celebrity or something. They have enough work to do on Friday evenings as is.” 

“What about the celebrity on your left?” winked Jenna sitting opposite him. 

“Oh God...” groaned Chase. 

“What? A world-class journalist...” 

“Sure, if you count Dallas as the world,” the otter rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah, thank you for helping me get here. It’s all kinda... new to me,” said Leo embarrassingly. 

“Hey, don’t mention it. If TJ hadn’t been so _divinely_ stubborn, we would’ve helped him as well,” playfully but pointedly said Flynn, looking at the lynx siting one seat apart from him. 

“There was no need. I have the money as well as the time, so I wouldn’t impose on anyone else,” smiled Toby from ear to ear. 

“Oh yeah, TJ doesn’t impose, he is _welcomed._ The favourite staffer of the whole Canadian national hockey crew. The whole team is always _very_ excited to see him,” said Carl with a deadpan face and made an up-and-down motion in the air, as if gripping something. 

TJ’s ears fell flat and became red. Chase couldn’t resist and giggled. The rest were smiling as well. 

“I still cannot get used to your new looks, Flynn. Glasses suit you damn well,” smiled Jenna, carefully cutting a piece off her steak. 

“Well, thank you, dear,” replied the lizard, “Though, I assume you cannot fix my eyesight?” 

“Flynn, I’m going to say it again, I’m a doctor, but...” 

“...not an eye doctor, I’m not a complete idiot, Jenna,” he gave a chuckle. 

The fox shook her head but immediately became preoccupied with her steak a moment later. 

“Oh, Carl, how long is Dax’s tour taking? He couldn’t come because of it, right?” 

“Yeah, baby boy is gonna be foisting his new book to America for another two weeks or so. To be fair, I was gonna come with him, but how could I miss such a landmark event? We haven’t seen each other like this, together, for what... ten years?” raised his eyebrow Carl. 

“Yes, about ten. By the way, I’ve read a couple of his books. Science fiction isn’t exactly my type of bed time reading, but your illustrations are spectacular,” smiled Jenna. 

“Ha... Well, I tried,” replied the ram embarrassingly. 

“What’s “your type”, Jenna? Do you still read those comics with big-eyed rabbits?” Leo smirked and Flynn pressed his hand to his muzzle, covering his laughter. 

“Go to hell, Leo,” groaned Jenna and Flynn laughed openly. 

The next two hours flew by. They were enjoying delicious food, talked about everything and nothing and it seemed like everything was just perfect. Although, one topic was never touched upon and it was still in the air like someone’s invisible presence. Of course, it was TJ who decided to finally bring it up. 

“And... how is everyone? You know...” 

They had already discussed some of it with each other over the phone and videocalls, but like this – it was for the first time. Since that very night when the old train took them away from danger. 

The friends exchanged the looks, as if asking who was going to start. Then Jenna shrugged. 

“I’m fine. Used some of the stuff we went through in a couple of my researches, but in general... I just try not to think of dreadful things. Have enough of that as is.” 

“Jenna, what’s wrong?” 

“Oh, don’t worry, TJ, just a lot of stress at work.” 

“Oh... okay,” he looked at them and coughed, “I’m fine too. Tons of work, but it reminds me of the things I’d left behind. At home I have my Cynthia and two incredible kids, so... yes, I’m doing well,” grinned the lynx, fixing his neckband a little. 

“Can’t complain,” shrugged Carl, “Well, not much changed for me, I just don’t smoke or live with my folks anymore. I guess the chance to do what I love... and also that I live very far from all... _that_... I think I’m all right.” 

Carl fell silent and subdued the trembling in his hands. 

“I’m in Payton, so I can’t say the same,” admitted Leo, “But the town keeps growing and there’s always stuff to do in the workshop, so... I’m managing. Plus, I’m in a relationship for a few years, so things definitely could be much worse.” 

He smiled and leaned over his place, suddenly taking great interest in remains of sauce on the rim of it. The rest exchanged quick looks again. 

“I’ve seen your pictures on Furbook,” said TJ with a grin, “You look really cute together.” 

Leo smiled and relaxed again. 

“What about the stars of today’s evening?” he addressed the otter and the lizard sitting to the left of him. 

“Well, it’s not a secret that a lot of stuff had happened. But I think things are fine now. I have my own restaurant, a couple of my own recipe books... and I have someone at home to share how my day went with,” smiled Flynn and gently hit the otter’s chair with his heavy tail. 

“I... I...” Chase didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t sure the rest needed to know it. 

“Are you okay, Otter?” anxiously asked Leo. 

“I cannot say I got over it yet,” quietly said Chase, “After that university project it got easier, but I just can’t get rid of it. I feel like I’m a terrible person and I deserve nothing of what I have now,” he said everything that was torturing him inside and immediately looked at the floor, cause tears immediately filled his eyes. 

Silence ensued in the room and Flynn immediately moved on his chair towards him and took him by the shoulders. 

“Listen, we’ve already discussed this. We’ve all had a pretty shitty past. And now it’s all behind. You’re free from the influence of that place and I damn promise you that you aren’t a terrible person,” said Flynn looking right at him, “I would know it better than anyone here if you were.” 

“Better than anyone, huh?” winked Leo. 

“Absolutely. My experience with this piece of fur right here beats yours by seven years or so,” almost proudly responded the lizard. 

Leo theatrically grasped his heart as if he had just been shot. Chase couldn’t help it and smiled, shaking his head. Flynn bristled up his head fur and kissed him on a cheek before returning to his plate. Chase mustered strength to return to his own food as well. 

“Seriously though, you know we don’t blame you,” frowned Jenna, “We can thank our lovely hometown for everything that’s happened to us.” 

“Yes, and you know what? Tons of good stuff happened to us there as well. For example, we all met there and I’ll always remember that. So... _fuck_ the bad stuff. Stop looking at this table as if some shit’s gonna crawl out of the food. Let’s just be happy, okay?” Carl said loudly and proudly with a grin. 

Chase and Leo exchanged looks remembering the day from their childhood when the wolf asked Chase out almost with the same phrasing and they smiled at each other. 

TJ, on the other hand, was still sitting with a horrified expression on his muzzle, fiddling with a rosary on his neck. 

“Oh God, Teej, please, don’t tell me you’re still afraid of bad words,” rolled his eyes Carl. 

“I’m... not afraid. It’s just... I wasn’t prepared, no one has cussed like this today yet.” 

“Alright, let’s test it out. Now you’re ready for what’s about to happen. Listen to me,” said Carl fully facing the lynx with the same deadpan face expression. 

“Carl, what...” 

“ _Fuck,_ ” said the ram, savouring every sound. 

The face and ears of the lynx got red and he shut his mouth. The rest started laughing with TJ joining in shortly afterwards. When they calmed down Flynn raised his wine glass. 

“I want to make a toast,” he stood up and adjusted his glasses, “To all of us. It’s a miracle that we are all here and yet it’s real. The only reality that matters.” 

“To reality,” said TJ with his glass of juice. 

“To friendship,” said Leo and Jenna almost at the same time. 

“To an amazing picture we’re about to take after this toast,” said Carl affirmatively. 

“And... to Sydney,” added Chase, with the soft sound of six glasses touching each other, echoing in the room afterwards. 

*******

“Did you really mean it? What you said at the table?” asked Chase quietly lying in the bed. 

Flynn, next to him, put a book aside and looked at him. 

“I meant everything I said today, what exactly are you asking?” 

“That I’m... not bad.” 

“Chase... you are one of the best things that have ever happened to me. Sydney’s family have forgiven you. Do you think I have any right to think otherwise?” 

“Well, still, it’s...” 

“Chase, no one says what happened in our childhood is okay. But I’m not allowing you to torture yourself forever.” 

“I... don’t know what I did to deserve you in my life,” smiled the otter quickly rubbing his eyes. 

“Who else would agree to marry such disaster like you?” Flynn noted. 

“Indeed. Thank you so much.” 

“You’re always welcome,” replied Flynn with a smile taking off his glasses and putting them aside to the nightstand with the book. 

“Now let’s have some sleep. We’re getting up early and I cannot wait to wake everyone up at eight o’clock, and _especially_ Carl.” 

The lizard pushed the button and the lamp on the nightstand turned off. Their bedroom furnished in the modern style; the wardrobe with clothes they often “borrowed” from each other if they fit; the beige walls with blue patterns and multiple photos from events of the previous years – everything plunged into darkness. Chase said the only thing he wanted to tell Flynn at that moment and in many other moments of their long life together. 

"I love you, Flynn." 

"Love ya too, Chase," uttered the lizard and pulled the otter into his warm and firm embrace, kissing him on the neck. 

Very soon Chase steeped into slumber and nothing bothered him during the night. His nightmares had stopped many years ago, just like Flynn’s outbursts of anger. All he saw while lying in the lizard’s arms was an image from the distant past when Flynn was teaching him how to cook some dish with peppers in the kitchen of his house in Echo. Each time the knife in his hands cut the vegetable in a wrong way, leaving uneven pieces on the cutting board, the lizard would scream at him... and yet they both had fun. Meanwhile, in the living room, adult Sydney was sitting on the sofa, just looking at them, completely silent. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has reached the end with me.  
> I enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much.  
> Tons of love to you all:*  
> Your Garrus.


End file.
